Article snippet: The United States’ birth rate has continued to decline for the fourth consecutive year, newly released federal data reveals. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the finalized birth and fertility rates for 2018, finding that U.S. birth rates have been dropping since 2015. Last year, less than 3.8 million babies were born in the U.S. — a drop of two percent, or almost 64,000 births, since 2017. “This is the fourth year that the number of births has declined following an increase in 2014,” the CDC report details. “Before that year, the number of births declined steadily from 2007 through 2013.” Across major racial groups, the birth rate continued to drop. For example, in a year-to-year comparison for 2017 to 2018, the number of births for non-Hispanic whites declined by two percent. For Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks, the number of births declined by one percent, as well as a three percent decline in births for non-Hispanic Asians. The total fertility rate, which stands at 1,729.5 births per 1,000 women, remains below replacement level — the number of births needed to at least replace a generation of Americans. Every year, there must be at least 2,100 births per 1,000 women to be considered at or above replacement level. Since 1971, the birth rate has been below replacement level, according to the CDC. Birth rates across all major racial groups — non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks, and non-Hispanic Asians — were again be... Link to the full article to read more