News
‘Our Global Birth Dearth’
Demographic Intelligence’s Lyman Stone provides a broad overview of the confluence of factors that are causing fertility rates to sink across the globe in a lengthy piece for National Review. As D.I. readers know, falling birthrates can be attributed to industrialization, the widespread use of contraception and delayed marriage. There may be even one other factor at play — a declining number of people who believe it is their responsibility and duty to have children, be it to their religion, their culture or just society as a whole. As the “price tag” for rearing children moves ever higher, this too acts as a fertility suppressor. Read the whole thing HERE.
‘Another Record Low’ for U.S. Fertility
Demographic Intelligence leaders feature prominently in a new Forbes piece examining the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control that showed U.S. birthrates fell yet again in 2018. Fertility usually declines in times of economic difficulty, so the slide during the Great Recession and its aftermath was expected. But births have yet to rebound in the U.S. D.I.’s Chief Information Officer, Lyman Stone, says declining marriage rates are to blame. While more than half of middle and upper-class adults were married in 2015, that number plummeted to about one-quarter among the poor. It is the working and lower classes that generally have the most babies, and it is those groups who are seeing the most disruption in their lives, both economically and socially. Read the entire piece HERE.
‘The End of Babies’
In a provocative essay for The New York Times, Anna Louise Sussman examined the connection between “late capitalism” in the developed world and declining birthrates. As Demographic Intelligence has well documented, there is a widening gap between desired fertility and actual fertility. The essay combines anecdotes with regular people talking about the circumstances of their own delayed childbearing and analysis from fertility experts, including our own Lyman Stone. Read the whole thing HERE.
Destination Maternity Cites Fewer Births in Bankruptcy
Destination Maternity recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced plans to shutter stores nationwide amid sagging sales. While competition, especially from online sources, certainly surely played a role, Destination Maternity in its bankruptcy petition citing falling birthrates as a major reason for its struggles. Business Insider cited Demographic Intelligence Advisor Lyman Stone’s analysis of the retailer’s troubles and the wider business implications of declining fertility rates. Read DI’s full press release here.
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