Thread: San Diego County births decline for first time in 7 years

San Diego County births decline for first time in 7 years

By CHRIS NICHOLS - cnichols@nctimes.com
December 27, 2009 6:20 pm

The number of babies born in San Diego County has dropped for the first time in seven years, a sign the economy is causing some couples to think twice before adding to their family, according to two regional demographers and state figures.

From July 2008 to July 2009, the county recorded 46,351 births. That's down from the 47,205 births recorded in the same period a year earlier, a state Department of Finance report on population showed.

Not since July 2001 to July 2002 had births declined from the previous year, according to the report released last week.

"You generally see a decline in births in economic hard times," said Ed Schafer, a senior demographer for the San Diego Association of Governments, the region's planning agency. "People are fairly rational about this; some people are.

"There's people saying: 'Yeah, it's a stupid time to get pregnant,'" he added.

Birth numbers are down significantly at two North County hospitals: Escondido's Palomar Medical Center and Oceanside's Tri-City Hospital. Palomar tallied 3,651 births as of Dec. 21. That was off by more than 650 from three years ago and 384 from last year, according to numbers provided by Andy Hoang, the hospital's spokesman.

At Tri-City, 3,013 babies had been born as of Dec. 23. That's down 765 from the previous year, according to hospital figures.

At Poway's Pomerado Hospital, births totaled 1,150 as of late December, just 32 off last year's pace, said Hoang, also the spokesman for the Poway hospital. He said he could only guess that the recession has led families to hold off on pregnancies this year, adding that the capacity at the two hospitals' birthing centers has remained the same in recent years.

One hospital that saw a baby bounce was Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas. So far this year, it has recorded 1,812 births, up from 1,572 in 2008, 1,599 in 2007 and 1,635 in 2006. The addition of four beds to its birth pavilion in 2006 probably helped those numbers, but that's not the only reason, said hospital spokeswoman Julie Lee.

"I think a lot of it is the fact that the community itself, North County itself, has grown," Lee said, citing some significant population increases over the past decade in Carlsbad, Oceanside and Encinitas, all communities near the hospital. SANDAG population estimates show the cities grew by 34 percent, 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively, from 2000 to 2009.

Even though the number of births dropped slightly last year in San Diego County, the county's overall population increased by 1.23 percent, or about 39,000 people, the state figures show. That's because more people were born than died (19,011) and because nearly 15,000 people from other countries settled here.

John Weeks, professor of geography at San Diego State University, said the recent slowdown of immigration from Mexico probably reduced births somewhat, noting that many Mexican immigrants are of reproductive age. The recession has cut immigration statewide.

It has also forced some couples already living in the county to move away, "taking their births elsewhere," Weeks said. The lack of jobs and high cost of housing have driven that exodus, added Weeks, who also is the director of the university's International Population Center.

For the fifth straight year, the county saw more people leave for other spots in the United States than arrive from within the country, according to the state report. That's a statewide trend, too.

"California used to attract everybody from other states," added Schafer, the SANDAG demographer. "We were sort of the 'Golden Land.' Now California is sort of getting full. We're having these financial problems ... and people are starting to look at other places to go."

Call staff writer Chris Nichols at 760-740-5426.

http://nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/ ... 671a1.html

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