As the baby boomer generation ages, a “baby bust” seems to only be in its beginning.
The birth rate, both nationally and in Ohio, has been on the decline since the Great Recession of 2007. While experts aren’t in a hurry to sound the alarm on a population problem, there’s plenty of data to give us insight into the declining number of babies being born and why some people aren’t interested in changing that any time soon.
Here’s a look at the baby bust by the numbers:
Deaths exceeded births in Ohio in 2023, preliminary data shows
- 1.62: Births per woman in the U.S. in 2023, the lowest birth rate in the country’s history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . A rate of 2.1 is considered the “replacement rate” needed to maintain the population.
- 127,000: Babies born in Ohio in 2023, according to preliminary data. It is the lowest number on record and around 4,000 fewer than the 131,000 deaths in Ohio that year.
- 5: Number of Ohio counties that had more births in 2023 vs. 2006. Even booming Delaware County, the faster growing county in the state, saw fewer births. But Union County experienced a 21% spike in babies in 2023 vs. 2016, by far the biggest outlier in the state.