State’s Birth Rate Has Declined 22%
Lowest level since 1989, state now ranks 38th in birth rate, new study shows.
Newborn baby. Photo is in the Public Domain.
Wisconsin’s birth rate has continued to fall in the decade since the Great Recession.
A new analysis of state health data from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found the number of births per 1,000 people dropped from 12.9 in 2007 to 11.5 in 2016.
The birth rate is now at its lowest level in nearly three decades, falling more than 22 percent since 1989.
Wisconsin’s Birth Rate Continues to Fall
The decline is largely in line with national trends, though Wisconsin’s birth rate in 2016 was about 5 percent behind the national average.
The state’s birth rate ranks 38th among other states.
David Callender of the Wisconsin Policy Forum said the trend means Wisconsin’s population will continue to age, which may pose challenges for the state’s economy.
“Wisconsin’s going to need about 300,000 additional workers, just simply to keep pace with the workforce demands, by 2040,” Callender said. “We’re going to have to look at both the birth rate and how do we encourage in-migration, how do we get more workers into Wisconsin.”
Callender said economic growth tends to lead to higher birth rates.
But if there is such a change, it likely won’t happen immediately.
Wisconsin’s Declining Birth Rate May Pose Economic Challenges As Well As Demographic Ones was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
It’s easy to see why. No person in their right mind would ever want to bring a baby into a state like Wisconsin that’s imbued with corruption poverty and hopelessness, with no healthcare all while being Lorded over by corrupt and crazy far right-wing madmen like Crooked Scott Walker, much less bring a baby into a country being run into the ground by Trumpty Dumpty.
I think women look down at other women that choose motherhood over a career path. If a woman has more than three kids these days she is equal to a leper.