Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 17 May 2019
U.S. births lowest in 3 decades despite improving economy

By CARLA K. JOHNSON housing costs, Guzzo said.
AP Medical Writer Brandy Loshaw, 39, of Web-
America’s baby bust isn’t ster, New York, said despite
over. The nation’s birth a stable career as a dental
rates last year reached hygienist “I would never be
record lows for women able to afford the added
in their teens and 20s, a expense of a child and live
government report shows, comfortably.” She said she
leading to the fewest ba- is grateful she “can never
bies in 32 years. remember a time in my life
The provisional report, re- that I wanted children.”
leased Wednesday and Pollution and climate
based on more than 99% change worry her. “I would
of U.S. birth records, found hate to bring a child into a
3.788 million births last year. world that could fall apart
It was the fourth year the around them,” Loshaw
number of births has fallen, said. Births were down
the lowest since 1986 and across racial groups, with
a surprise to some experts small declines for Hispanics,
given the improving econ- whites, blacks and Asians.
omy. The fertility rate of 1.7 The number of babies born
births per U.S. woman also to native Hawaiian and Pa-
fell 2%, meaning the cur- This Feb. 16, 2017 file photo shows newborn babies in the nursery of a postpartum recovery center cific Islanders was stable.
rent generation isn’t mak- in upstate New York. The Centers for Disease
ing enough babies to re- Associated Press Control and Prevention re-
place itself. The fertility rate mographer Kenneth M. in their lives. The only two in birth rates. port also found:
is a hypothetical estimate Johnson of University of groups with slightly higher Young Americans still want —Overall, the U.S. birth
based on lifetime projec- New Hampshire’s Carsey birth rates in 2018 were to have children, but they rate for women ages 15 to
tions of age-specific birth School of Public Policy. women in their late 30s and don’t feel stable enough 44 was 59 births per 1,000
rates. Whether more U.S. He estimates 5.7 million ba- those in their early 40s. to have them yet, said Kar- women, an all-time low.
women are postponing bies would have been born “Our fertility rates are still en Benjamin Guzzo, who —Last year, there were 2%
motherhood or forgoing it in the past decade if fertil- quite high for a wealthy studies families at Bowling fewer births than in 2017.
entirely isn’t yet clear. ity rates hadn’t fallen from nation,” said Caroline Sten Green State University in —Births to teenagers again
If trends continue, experts pre-recession levels. Hartnett, a demographer Ohio. reached a record low. The
said, the U.S. can expect “That’s a lot of empty kin- at the University of South The U.S. could do more to number of births to moth-
labor shortages including dergarten rooms,” said Carolina. encourage childbearing ers ages 15 through 19 was
in elder care when aging Johnson, who wasn’t in- American women are start- with parental leave, pre- 179,607, down 8%.
baby boomers need the volved in the report. ing families sooner than school expansion and child —The rate for premature
most support. Other experts are not con- most other developed na- care subsidies and other births — delivery at less
“I keep expecting to see cerned, predicting today’s tions, according to other policies aimed at helping than 37 weeks — rose for
the birth rates go up and young women will catch research . Other countries young adults struggling the fourth straight year to
then they don’t,” said de- up with childbearing later are seeing similar declines with student loan debt and just over 10%, from 9.9%.q

U.N. leader travels to Pacific to

see climate change firsthand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand meaning that sea levels will ments at a meeting with
(AP) — U.N. Secretary-Gen- rise a full meter (over 3 feet) officials from the Pacific
eral Antonio Guterres said by 2100 if nothing is done Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji’s
Wednesday that he’s trav- to avoid it,” Guterres said. capital.
eling to three South Pacific “Here in the Pacific, sea- He also plans to visit the is-
island nations to see the level rise in some countries land nations of Tuvalu and
effects of climate change is four times greater than Vanuatu.
In this image made from video, United Nations Secretary- firsthand. the global average and His trip comes ahead of
General Antonio Guterres addresses the Pacific Islands Forum, Speaking in Fiji, the U.N. is an existential threat to the Climate Action Summit
Wednesday, May 15, 2019, in Suva, Fiji. leader said he wanted to some island states.” that he plans to convene in
Associated Press learn about the work be- Guterres said island nations September in New York.q
ing undertaken by island should speak out.
communities to bolster “As we look ahead, your
resilience. He said the Pa- voices will remain crucial
cific needs stronger inter- in global negotiations,” he
national support because said.
climate change is taking “Your experiences under-
place faster than efforts to score the urgency of the
address it. threat, and the Pacific has
“The last four years were a unique moral authority to
the hottest on record. The speak out. It is time for the
loss of ice in Greenland and world to listen.”
Antarctica is accelerating, Guterres made the com-