The government must face the fertility crisis

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released two important reports last year: the national births report for 2022 and the provisional births report for 2023. Both reflect a concerning trend: a decline in the general fertility rate among women aged 15-44 and a corresponding drop in the annual number of live births in the United States.

The numbers are stark. In 2022, the U.S. recorded 3,667,758 births, a figure nearly identical to the previous year’s 3,664,292 births. These numbers are the nadir of a sustained decline in the national birth rate that began in 2007. Between 2007 and 2013, the annual number of U.S. births decreased by an average of 2% per year. From 2014 to 2019, this decline moderated to 1% annually.

Buried within these

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