Kerby Anderson

The US birth rate has been dropping for decades and has now reached an historic low according to the data published by the Centers for Disease Control. Response to this new data has been varied. An article in Vox provides a number of charts to explain the phenomenon and then concludes that the historically low birthrate could be a sign of progress. Other commentators (especially Christian commentators) warn that we are headed for a “demographic winter.” The fertility rate is one important measure of a nation’s well-being. If fewer children are born, then you will have an older population with fewer young, healthy workers to maintain productivity. Why is our fertility rate declining? Economist Lyman Stone believes much of the decline is driven by the fact that society isn’t organized to support women having babies. Others believe the bad economy is to blame. Sociologist Bradford Wilcox reminds us that US marriage rates have been declining along with birth rates. He also says that there is even a declining interest in sex among young people. Why is that? He points to the prevalence of pornography along with a smartphone culture that focuses much more on virtual relationships rather than actual relationships. One more factor should also be mentioned: mental health. Happy and hopeful people are more likely to have children than depressed and discouraged people. We are seeing higher rates of anxiety, depression, and despair. This is certainly true for young people in America today. One Psychology Today article a number of years ago made a startling observation: “the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.” Once again, this is a reminder that our society needs the hope of the gospel if we are to reverse some of these discouraging statistics.