U.S. Experiences Highest Number of Recorded Births in 2006 Since 1961
Nearly 4.3 million births in the U.S. were reported in 2006, the largest number recorded since 1961, the AP/Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Experts attribute the "baby boomlet" in U.S. births to a decrease in contraceptive use, a decrease in abortion access, poverty and lower levels of education. According to the AP/Herald-Leader, the increase in births also likely is the result of a larger population and a growing number of Hispanic women giving birth in the U.S. Hispanics have a 40% higher fertility rate than the overall rate in the country, and Hispanic women accounted for nearly 25% of all births in 2006. However, the CDC report found that births also increased among whites, blacks, American Indians and Alaska Natives but stayed about the same among Asian women.
Many U.S. residents, particularly in the Midwest, have a more favorable view of having children than residents of other Western countries, according to experts, the AP/Herald-Leader reports. An Associated Press analysis found that the U.S. has a higher fertility rate than every country in continental Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan.
Religious influence also is an important factor in certain regions, Ron Lesthaeghe, a Belgian demographer and visiting professor at the University of Michigan, said. According to demographers, it is too soon to determine whether the increase in births is the beginning of a trend. "We have to wait and see," Brady Hamilton, a statistician at CDC, said, adding, "For now, I would call it a noticeable blip" (Stobbe, AP/Lexington Herald-Leader, 1/16).
