Did you have a baby in 2006? Here in the United States? You're so trendy!
Turns out, the product of your 2006 childbirth might be the beginning of a new baby boom. Now, cautious as demographers are, they're only calling it a "boomlet." But still, they may drop the suffix if a few more years of dramatic rises in the country's birthrate continues. Here's what's going on:
From AP:
The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger
population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group
accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. But non-Hispanic
white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies,
too.
This possible new boom is just in time (actually, a little late) for the old baby boom, which experts say started in 1946 (the first baby boomer retiree applied for Social Security benefits in October this year). Let's get those 2006-ers raised and in the workforce so they can pay for their fore-boomers who are going to live right up until the end of time (and someone needs to pay for them). In any case, the 2.1 birthrate means the population is now replacing itself -- an economically good thing.
Why the sudden boom(let)? There are good and bad reasons:
... a decline in
contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and
poverty.
There are cultural reasons as well. Hispanics as a group have higher
fertility rates — about 40 percent higher than the U.S. overall. And
experts say Americans, especially those in middle America, view
children more favorably than people in many other Westernized countries.
"Americans like children. We are the only people who respond to
prosperity by saying, `Let's have another kid,'" said Nan Marie Astone,
associate professor of population, family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University.
You know how it looks like all of Hollywood (and Babble) is giving birth (thereby keeping Famecrawler alive in perpetuity)? It's actually Hollywood following the baby trend, not setting it.
Now, you didn't answer me. Did you have a baby in 2006? Well, where are my manners? A very belated and heartfelt congratulations!
