Is U.S. fertility at an all-time low? It depends how you measure it
U.S. fertility rates have hit historic lows, but three common measures tell different stories about whether American families are truly shrinking.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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5 facts about global fertility trends
Africa is the only world region where the fertility rate is currently higher than the global replacement-level fertility.
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Americans overwhelmingly say access to IVF is a good thing
Seven-in-ten Americans say in vitro fertilization access is a good thing. Just 8% say it is a bad thing, and 22% are unsure.
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Few East Asian adults believe women have an obligation to society to have children
Two-thirds or more in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam say that women should decide for themselves whether to bear children.
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Public Has Mixed Views on the Modern American Family
Americans are more pessimistic than optimistic about the institution of marriage and the family. At the same time, the public is fairly accepting of diverse family arrangements, though some are seen as more acceptable than others.
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The Modern American Family
Key trends in marriage and family life in the United States.
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With a potential ‘baby bust’ on the horizon, key facts about fertility in the U.S. before the pandemic
In 2019, there were 58.3 births for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in the United States, down from 59.1 in 2018.
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Middle children have become rarer, but a growing share of Americans now say three or more kids are ‘ideal’
Roughly four-in-ten U.S. adults think families of three or more children are ideal. Yet it’s still much more common for American women at the end of their childbearing years to have had one or two kids than three or more.
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A third of U.S. adults say they have used fertility treatments or know someone who has
Forty years after the birth of the first baby conceived via in vitro fertilization, 33% of Americans say they or someone they know has undergone fertility treatment.
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Family life is changing in different ways across urban, suburban and rural communities in the U.S.
Changes in marriage and childbearing have reshaped the American family. These shifts are playing out somewhat differently across urban, suburban and rural counties.
