Thread: Immigrants lead record drop in U.S. birth rate

Immigrants lead record drop in U.S. birth rate

Michael Winter, USA TODAYShare



In July 2010 in Sioux Falls, S.D., Christie Sachtjen performed an ultrasound on Kari Dalseide, who was 33 weeks pregnant.(Photo: Emily Spartz, AP)

5:06PM EST November 29. 2012 - The U.S. birth rate fell to a record low last year, led by a big decline in babies born to immigrant women during the economic disaster, the Pew Research Center reports.

Citing preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics, the 2011 birth rate fell 8% between 2007 and 2010 to 63.2 per 1,000 women of prime childbearing ages, 15 to 44. That's half the Baby Boom rate of 1957, The Washington Post notes, and the lowest since 1920, the earliest year for reliable data.

The decline was most dramatic among Mexican immigrants -- 23%. Overall, the birth rate for foreign-born women fell 14% -- more than between 1990 and 2007. For U.S.-born women it dropped 6%.

Final 2011 data is not yet available.

Despite the recessionary drop, Pew writes, "foreign-born mothers continue to give birth to a disproportionate share of the nation's newborns, as they have for at least the past two decades."

The 23% share of all births to foreign-born mothers in 2010 was higher than the 13% immigrant share of the U.S. population, and higher than the 17% share of women ages 15-44 who are immigrants. The 2010 birth rate for foreign-born women (87.8 ) was nearly 50% higher than the rate for U.S.-born women (58.9).

Total U.S. births in 2010 were 4.0 million—roughly 3.1 million to U.S.-born women and 930,000 to immigrant women. In 2011, according to preliminary data, there were 3.95 million total births.

The recent downturn in births to immigrant women reversed a trend in which foreign-born mothers accounted for a rising share of U.S. births. In 2007, births to foreign-born mothers accounted for 25% of U.S. births, compared with 16% in 1990. That share decreased to 23% in 2010.

Older immigrants mothers also delivered a large share of births for women 35 and up in 2010 -- 33%. U.S.-born teen mothers account for a higher share of births(11%) than their foreign-born counterparts (5%).

The Post writes that the decline "could have far-reaching implications for U.S. economic and social policy. A continuing decline would challenge long-held assumptions that births to immigrants will help maintain the U.S. population and provide the taxpaying work force needed to support the aging baby boomer generation."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/29/birth-rate-declines-record-low-immigrants/1735797/

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

The Post writes that the decline "could have far-reaching implications for U.S. economic and social policy"....

Can I get an Amen for Universal E-Verify?
**************************************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade