Steep drop in Florida's birth rate
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Florida's birth rate fell 22.5% between 2007 and 2022, from 13.02 births per 1,000 people to 10.09, Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj report based on new CDC data.
The big picture: The nationwide birth rate dropped from 14.3 births per 1,000 people to 11.1, or nearly 23%, in the same timeframe.
Why it matters: Birth rates tend to fall as income rises, meaning lower birth rates can reflect greater prosperity. (Many factors drive this, including a sense among wealthier people that they need fewer children to support them financially as they age.)
- The opposite can also be true, as people who feel they can't afford children choose not to have them.
- Lower birth rates can also be an indication of better access to contraception, family planning and abortion care.
Between the lines: Some fear that if the birth rate dips too low, it will bring about a crisis where there are too few young people to care for an aging populace.
- That's in sharp contrast to "Malthusianism," the fear that overpopulation will result in too many people and too few resources.
- While that theory — popular among many social scientists and policymakers in past decades, and which often underpins anti-immigration rhetoric — had faded somewhat, it's seeing a revival among some climate activists, who argue the planet can no longer support a growing human presence.
Of note: Births are only one side of the population coin; deaths and immigration/emigration also play key roles.
The intrigue: Before the pandemic, the birth rate was steadily declining year over year, outside of a slight bump in 2014.