Birthing Trends
Wed, May 27, 2009
When you’re trying to have a baby, it suddenly seems that everyone around you is pregnant or has children. You run into women pushing their strollers on the street and you see expectant mothers at the grocery store. Maybe they’ve always been there and you just begin to notice them or maybe it’s true that everyone really is with child?
Or maybe not. According to a recent article in the Washington Post, it’s very likely that birth rates are actually declining due to the economy. The article, titled What a Concept: 2007 Births Surpass Baby Boom, says that as a society, we tend to reproduce when times are good and when they’re bad, not so much. In fact, the US births in 2007 topped 4.3 million which surpassed the baby boom peak of 50 years earlier.
Now they think that things are slowing down as the economy slows down. Another trend, which may or may not be relevant to the economic situation, is that births to unwed mothers is up to 40% which apparently is at an all time high. Also, teen pregnancies have increased and abortions have dropped to the lowest they’ve been at in decades. Some say it is because of examples that we see such as Bristiol Palin, the teenage daughter of Sarah Palin who, upon getting pregnant, decided to keep the baby and raise it herself.
Another interesting fact in the article: in the 1950s women had four children on average. Now, the average rate is 2.1 children and believe it or not, it’s the highest it’s been since the early 70s.
Some other interesting 2007 facts:
- Utah still has the highest birth rate
- Vermont still has the lowest birth rate
- C-sections were performed in almost 1/3 of all births
- The rate of premature births declined slightly
Hmm… very interesting stuff. I guess I’m not surprised that as a nation, families have decreased in size since the 50s. And I’m definitely not surprised that Utah has the highest birth rate. But I am disappointed to hear that the actual birth rate is decreasing. I guess this means that when I see pregnant women everywhere, it’s just my imagination working over time. Maybe it’s because when I want something, it seems that everyone else already has it.
Are there any birthing trends or changes that you’ve noticed?
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Tags: birth trends, birthing, celebrity births, Pregnancy Life
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May 27th, 2009 at 3:28 am
–>Interesting statistics for sure. Most of my friends are on their second pregnancy right now and all due sometime in the next six months. Then again, nine years ago I attended these same friends’ weddings every other week so it just may be the life cycle we are all on right now.
http://thaxtonfam.blogspot.com
Hokie Deb´s last blog post..Fish On!
May 27th, 2009 at 4:42 am
I noticed a TON of pregnant women when I was pregnant with Dax. But, uh, that was in 2007
I was just doing my part to help that baby boom statistic.
I haven’t noticed it because I wasn’t around back then, but my mom tells me it is AMAZING the number of strangers who feel that just because a woman is pregnant she is public property: belly being touched (no one did this to me … guess I put off a vibe); advice being given (boy did I get this a lot, especially when obviously pregnant with my second while carrying my first around because she hadn’t learned to walk yet); and very unthoughtful comments being made (see previous aside). She said that when she was pregnant with her kids, people were in general more polite, but that they sort of did it in an abstract way … as if her giant beach ball belly had nothing to do with it
May 27th, 2009 at 5:16 am
It might just be because I’m young and pregnant right now, but I am noticing people settling down at younger ages and having babies sooner. I am not sure what the reason for this is, but I know that personally, it fit better in my career path for me to go ahead and have a baby now at age 27. By the time I’m in my 30s, I’ll be able to grow faster in my profession because I don’t be looking for promotions while I’m pregnant.
Our first baby (a boy!) is due in 3 days, and I just can’t wait!
Katie´s last blog post..The Sock Savior
May 27th, 2009 at 5:19 am
I haven’t noticed the decline, but that could be of my station in life right now…I go to MOPS (Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers), so I know several women who are pregnant, and who have newborns! I have noticed that families are generally smaller, 2 kids seeming to be the “norm.”
Eryn´s last blog post..Today is a big day.
May 27th, 2009 at 5:38 am
Well, the funny thing here, is that 3 {count ‘em, three} of my 5 ex-boyfriends have all accidentally gotten a girl pregnant in the past year. Crazy stuff. So I don’t know about it slowing down, because all I’m ever hearing is babies babies babies. Part of that is also because a lot of my shallow friendships faded away when I settled down.
How’s this for a statistic: The C-Section rate in Miami-Dade is 70%. So the biggest (most ridiculous, in my opinion) trend I’m noticing is the unbelievably high cesarean rates in the “high class” areas.
emilyG´s last blog post..Shopping Wares – May09
May 27th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Hmm…I don’t know “for sure” if I’ve noticed trends. I have some friends with babies but the majority of my friends who are close in age and also career-oriented seem to be childless. However I can say for sure that my husband has the fever while I do not!! haha
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May 27th, 2009 at 6:04 am
I know exactly what you mean. It definitely seems that there is a baby boom. Whether it is famous Hollywood actors/actresses, you friends, people you see out and about. I have noticed an increase in the amount of pregnant women or mom’s of young children.
Because the economy has slowed I anticipate a slow down in this birth rate as well.
Jes´s last blog post..Day Tripping
May 27th, 2009 at 6:15 am
It’s fun to be above the two kid norm, especially with three children in four years. You get some funny looks. I wonder what people would say if we had four? Among our friends people are having two or more, no one is staying at one… But then there are some people not having any, so I guess it evens out that way.
Kristy´s last blog post..Learning about baby
May 27th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Interesting post and interesting comments already posted. The one comment about politeness in society – that’s not just noticeable in the pregnancy realm. In general, I think we are less polite now than in the past. I hope that politeness returns to our society someday soon and it can start with children. I hope more children are taught to say please, thank you, yes/no ma’ma or sir, excuse me, pardon me, or that they simply learn to wait their turn by being called by name.
Another comment was about people settling down and having children earlier – I’ve been married 15 1/2 years, and my husband and I decided to remain child-free…not a popular decision in our society (you can’t imagine some of the things that have been said to me – men don’t get the same mean comments on this topic that women do), but it was our decision and we have no regrets. I have to agree with the commenter…many of my younger friends are having kids soon after marriage, maybe not settling down younger as many of my younger friends are 10 years younger than me (I’m 40 and married at 24). I have noticed though that these friends have started their families with in the first year of marriage – meaning actually having the baby within a few months of their first anniversary.
Angela´s last blog post..Break Time
May 27th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I’m with you — it seems like everywhere I look these days, there’s a pregnant belly or a baby in a carrier! But I’m in the same place you are — trying to have a baby — so that’s definitely where my attention is these days. That’s interesting that they’re saying birth rates are down…wonder how long that trend will last.
May 27th, 2009 at 6:35 am
no, trust me, it’s not just when you are trying to get pregnant that everyone else seems pregnant….it’s more when you are NOT trying to get pregnant that everyone and their mother seems pregnant!
cher´s last blog post..The start
May 27th, 2009 at 7:01 am
I notice pregnant women more now too! I think it is an unspoken camraderie or bond that I feel with them now and wanted to feel so bad before we became pregnant. If its your next planned phase in life, I think it is only natural that your brain wants to observe them more. My husband is now noticing how parents deal with fussy babies, tantrum throwing two-yr-olds, and how new parents juggle all the equipment and gear that babies seem to require while out in public. He is already critiqueing strollers, carriers, and portable booster seats.
I’ve noticed people getting married later and having children in their late 20s/early 30s after finishing college and starting their careers, but maybe that’s just the people I hang around. (My mother-in-law was pregnant straight off her honeymoon at 19 years old and aspired to be a housewife.) I’ve also noticed the hip, young, educated and trendy crowd turning back to organics, cloth diapers, making their own baby food, breast feeding, and natural births. My mother’s generation shunned all this as women were becoming working mothers and needed the convenience of formula, disposable diapers, and jarred baby food.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:08 am
That must be why I see iphones everywhere. : > )
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May 27th, 2009 at 7:47 am
I hope the birth rate in your area goes up by at least one in the next year.
Mindee@ourfrontdoor´s last blog post..The Invisble Man
May 27th, 2009 at 8:12 am
wow very interesting information…but it all can change
Briony´s last blog post..first comes love…
May 27th, 2009 at 8:16 am
I read an article about the declining birth rate on CNN a few days ago and it shocked me too. It seems like the last couple of years have produced a pretty steady flow of babies and I don’t see it slowing down anywhere around me. But obviously I’m wrong.
As far as birth trends go, I agree with Kate. For a long time, everything I heard suggested that women were waiting until they were older to have babies. Especially here in Los Angeles. But for some reason, that just isn’t what I see. I know a few people who waited until they were in their late 30s or early 40s to start a family, but mostly it seems like people we know are settling down younger and having babies younger. They’re still predominantly in their mid to late 20s, we don’t really know many people who are 21 and married with children, but that seems so much younger than what I was always lead to believe.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:18 am
I work with at risk youth, so teenagers getting pregnant is something I’ve noticed to be on the rise, sadly.
Kristina´s last blog post..One Is NOT the Loneliest Number
May 27th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Completely know how you feel — I’m seeing pregnant tummies everywhere I look!
While I can see the argument for declining birth rates in a bad economy (less mouths to feed), there is also an argument for hunkering down and HAVING babies during this time. If I’m not going to be up for a big promotion or a big raise due to the economy, maybe now is a great time to start a family. The scary economic environment encourages us to concentrate on what we HAVE and what is really important. To many, that is family, not a hefty 401k.
Kate´s last blog post..She Says… Day 7 of The Challenge
May 27th, 2009 at 10:09 am
This is so true. When I first started trying to have a baby, it seems like every one else in the world was pregnant and having babies. I thought it will never happen to me, but alas it did.
Even 17 yrs ago when I had my last child, we weren’t told too many things that we couldn’t eat. But when my daughter had her first child a year ago, the OB/GYN gave her a list of things not to eat. Such as tuna, certain kinds of fish, lunch meats, processed meats, like corn dogs, unpasturized foods and some other things that I don’t remember. She stuck to it religiously for sure. He was a healthy baby boy!! I said it was a wonder that my kids were born healthy!
May 27th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Fascinating statistics, but I’m with you. It seems everwhere I turn there’s a pregnant lady!
Liz´s last blog post..Ava & Charlie, Part V
May 27th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Those are interesting stats. I wonder why Vermont has such a low birthrate…it’s cold up there!
-FringeGirl
May 27th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I am right there with you! I am so ready to get married and start a family soon after and it honestly seems like every few days I hear that another friend is engaged, getting married soon, pregnant with their first, or pregnant again, etc. I’m definitely happy for them, but it’s tinged with that “when’s it going to be my turn?” feeling. Hang in there, I can’t wait for the post when you tell us a little one is on the way!
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May 27th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Andrea – I can’t wait for Tabitha’s “I’m pregnant” post either!
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May 27th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
It’s not just you. I’m noticing pregnant people popping (no pun intended) up everywhere too. Maybe on average the rate has decreased, just not in our local areas.
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May 27th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I think it is natural to “see” the things we think about or want more than when we are focused on something else. For example, if you get a new car of a certain model, you begin to notice just how many of that model are out there, even of the same color as yours. They were always there, but now you are focused on them. These statistics are very interesting, and they have so many implications on the future. The number of babies we have this year will make a big difference for our schools in a few years, for our social programs, etc. It is interesting to see how millions of individual decisions come together to affect each of us years later.
May 27th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
We found out we were pregnant two months after buying our furst home. My mother said, Generally couples are pregnant within 18 months of buying a home. I don’t know how true that is, but I guess it goes along with getting pregnant once you’ve stopped trying, or started the adoption process.
erin´s last blog post..baby thankfulness
May 28th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Wow those are really interesting stats, looks like I helped the “baby boom” in 2007 with the birth of the twins. But I do recall when I was pregnant thinking it seemed like everyone was pregnant, everywhere I went. It was really neat!
Jenna @ Newlyweds´s last blog post..Meet the Newlyweds John & Sarah
May 30th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I recently worked at a large Children’s hospital, where we were told the NICU census has been down since last summer, & that this is a national trend. Many of the NICU nurses believed it was because the economical downturn meant that many families no longer had the money for in-vitro fertilization (IVF). (IVF contributes a significant number of premature babies and babies with congenital anomalies to Level 3 NICU’s across the country, and the nurses noted they were seeing far fewer babies born from IVF as well).
I am seeing the trend with my friends as well. Most of us are in our mid-to-late twenties, settling down & getting married, and most of us have careers taking off at one rate or another. My fiance and I do want to have a couple kids eventually- as in like 5 years down the road- and we are very aware that this is not at all the norm amongst our friends. Most of our newly-married or soon-to-be-married friends explicitly do not want children, and a couple of them say they know they don’t want kids now and don’t know if they ever will want kids. Most of our friends are very well educated though, and I know there are many documented statistics about how the more education people have, the fewer children they tend to have- that is probably coming into play here.
And I have to say, I completely disagree with the supposed “Bristol Palin effect.” I work with many teen moms as a nurse, and can tell you that most of them have very little knowledge of what is going on in the world around them at all- and I doubt they know who Bristol Palin is, let alone think of her as a role model. Most of these girls literally need reminders to put down their cell phones and pay attention to their babies. I worry about what the future holds for them.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:31 am
I used to think the same thing, and now that I’m pregnant I tend to only see screaming, misbehaving children and harried looking moms and dads…
June 16th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I am currently seeing pregnant women all the time. I’ve not been well, so am emphatically NOT trying to get pregnant, so I hope this is not a sign!
BG
Billygean´s last blog post..“For we each of us deserve everything, every luxury that was piled in the tombs of the dead kings, and we each of us deserve nothing, not a mouthful of bread in hunger. Have we not eaten while another starved? Will you punish us for that? Will you reward us for the virtue of starving while others ate? No man earns punishment, no man earns reward. Free your mind of the idea of deserving, the idea of earning, and you will begin to be able to think.” Ursula LeGuin, The Dispossessed.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Ok… As a 36 year old who did the responsible-ish thing (waited to graduate college and get a good job and buy a house and get in a stable healthy loving relationship before procreating) and is now TTC for the last few months… it’s NOT your imagination. Pregnant women are EVERYWHERE. And not just the normal “Oh I’ve been married for a while, we were trying, now we are, yay!” types but my High School BFF who is abused by her hubby (that blows all their money on coke and hookers) missed the pill ONCE and she’s knocked up… Kortney Kardashian is having a baby with a guy she was OFF with until the day she conceived. My co-workers 17 year old daughter is knocked up. IT’S ALL THE WRONG PEOPLE GETTING KNOCKED UP. And me? Nope. Not can do it. Growl.
August 14th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Er. 26 years old… NOT 36.
January 3rd, 2010 at 8:20 pm
The family size may be decreasing, but the problem is that there are more people to begin with reproducing. This isn’t a decrease in any sense, there are just more people having one or two children, which works out to more people overall. This is a terrible and frightening trend!