Fertility Rate
Dec/24/07 07:37 AM
Well, I lost the link to the article I read yesterday, so I'm going to have to wing it a little bit. But, good news! The US fertility rate rose 2% to 2.1 children per woman. Who cares, you ask? Well, 2.1 is apparently the rate that sociologists claim allows the younger generations to fully replace the older ones, keeping population steady. Of course, the environmentalists weren't very happy about this. But they're not happy about very much, anyways.
The US's fertility rate is much higher than most modern countries, especially Italy and Japan. Italy's fertility rate is currently 1.29 children per woman, which is horrendously low. I read somewhere once that if the trend in Italy continues, its population will be cut in half by 2050 (don't quote me on that, though). Crazy.
A lot of scientists are puzzled about the US's relatively high rate. Most agree that the US's strong religious traditions promote child-bearing, more so than secular Europe. Some attribute the recent rise to the inflow of Latin Americans, who tend to have more children. Finally, some say that the ability for women in the US to have children while continuing a career helps to keep the rate high. All interesting.
The US's fertility rate is much higher than most modern countries, especially Italy and Japan. Italy's fertility rate is currently 1.29 children per woman, which is horrendously low. I read somewhere once that if the trend in Italy continues, its population will be cut in half by 2050 (don't quote me on that, though). Crazy.
A lot of scientists are puzzled about the US's relatively high rate. Most agree that the US's strong religious traditions promote child-bearing, more so than secular Europe. Some attribute the recent rise to the inflow of Latin Americans, who tend to have more children. Finally, some say that the ability for women in the US to have children while continuing a career helps to keep the rate high. All interesting.
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