US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Headquarters in Atlanta
(Reuters) – The number of births in the United States rose 1% in 2021, marking the first annual increase since 2014 from a record low in 2020 because of the pandemic, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC) of the United States.
The report said that 3,659,289 children were born last year, with an increase in women aged between 25 and 49.
Brady Hamilton, a statistician at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, said that while fertility rates and the number of births have increased in 2021, they are still below 2019 levels.
Americans had the fewest children in more than four decades in 2020.
Donald Dudley, director of the Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said, “I suspect that the birth rate has declined (from 2019 to 2020), probably due to the economy in relation to the Covid pandemic, but last year the economy took a turn.” from the University of Virginia.
“So that couples have more confidence that they will be financially strong and that they can afford the pregnancy.”
In March the agency released data for the first half of 2021 showing that births in the US fell in the first few months of the year from 2020, but rose in June.
“It will be interesting to see what happens next year after the problem of inflation and the recent slowdown in the economy,” Dudley said.
(Reporting by Amrita Khandekar)
