In an article for The New York Times, the economist Lyman Stone notes that “American Fertility Is Falling Short of What Women Want.” Stone, who serves as an advisor to Demographic Intelligence, predicts that the U.S. fertility rate reached 1.77 children per woman in 2017, a 38-year low. Drawing on research conducted for The U.S. Fertility Forecast, Stone points out that the recent fall in U.S. births is surprising because the economy has been growing. What’s driving this decline in births? Stone argues that increases in contraception and declines in sex are important factors, as are delays in marriage. For more on recent trends in U.S. births, see The New York Times article by Lyman Stone at this link.