According to CDC Americans Aren’t REPRODUCING Enough!

While some countries like China and India and trying to get their populations under control by restricting the number of children families can have, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say Americans aren't reproduction enough!

In a report release last Thursday, the CDC stated, "For the population to reproduce itself at current numbers, the “total fertility rate” needs to be 2,100 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age over their lifetime ... the latest data show a current rate of just 1,765.5 per 1,000, or 16 percent below the number needed to keep the population stable without additions through immigration."

I believe is has to do with the fact that we as Americans have become so career conscious, that having children has progressively gotten pushed further down the list of priorities, even for married couples. Combined with the increased use of birth control and contraceptives inspired by the baby boomers, less children are being born to families than in previous generations.

Some experts like Dr. Helen Kim, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine believe that while some  women may eventually have two or more babies, others may hit a fertility wall. Kim goes on to say “I think as women delay childbearing they may not realize that fertility declines with age and that there are limits to what fertility treatments can do for them".

All hope may not be lost for the American race though. Donna Strobino, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health believes, “It may not be all doom and gloom ... I think it may stabilize once women who have been postponing pregnancy have the births they are planning to have."

As a father of 4, I believe I have done my part to keep the population strong. On the other hand, less people means less of a strain on natural resources, lower prices due to lower demand, and best of all less traffic on the expressways.