According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), the birth rate in the United States is on a steady
decline. The CDC reports
that birth rates are currently half
of what they were in the beginning of the 1960s, at 56
births per 1,000 women. In addition, the number of babies
born in 2020 compared with 2019 saw a 4% drop. The
National Center for Health Statistics
states that the fertility
rate has fallen 2% every year since 2014, and is not only at
the lowest since 1979, but is the lowest fertility rate on
record.
There are several explanations for why the birth rate is
declining in the United States, and anxiety surrounding the
COVID-19 pandemic is but a small fraction of the equation.
Furthermore, the plummet in birth rate has little to do with
millennials, specifically millennial women, challenging
notions regarding the nuclear family. The reality is that the
U.S., as the nation currently stands, is neither beneficial nor
accommodating toward parents and their children.
A report from NPR and ProPublica
found that the U.S. has
the worst maternal mortality rate out of all the developed
nations in the world, and only America is seeing a rising
rate of women who die of pregnancy and childbirth
complications. Meanwhile, the number of maternal deaths
are declining elsewhere throughout the world. In the U.S.,
26 out of every 100,000 pregnant women die each year,
compared with the United Kingdom where the number falls
to nine out of every 100,000. Accounting for race, Black
American women are three to four times more likely to die
from pregnancy or birth-related causes than their white
counterparts.
Concerning those who manage to survive pregnancy and
childbirth, the resulting mountain of debt is the next hurdle.
A vaginal birth, with no complications, costs around
$32,000 – the cost of a car, four-year education at a state
university, or the down payment on a home. If the mother
has a C-section, the cost rises to more $50,000. Factor in
possible complications or medical emergencies, and the
hospital bill skyrockets to the six-figure bracket.
Additionally, giving birth to multiples (such as twins or
triplets) surges not only the price of labor, but the likelihood
of associated health risks and their accompanying treatment
costs. Moreover, these figures exist without the guarantee
of healthcare coverage.
The surmounting cost of pregnancy and childbirth is not
alleviated by paid parental leave, as the U.S. is the only
developed nation that doesn't require paid leave to mothers
and fathers. Therefore, new parents are forced to go right
back to work and depend heavily on childcare services that
do little to ease their burden. Daycare is a direct strain on
most parents' finances. According to a survey conducted by
Care.com, the standard cost of daycare is about $1,500
monthly, around the same price as the average American's
rent payment. In contrast, other countries give new
mothers (and an increasing amount of fathers) from weeks
to years of paid leave.
In conjunction with the exuberant costs of pregnancy, birth,
and childcare services, the federal minimum wage, when
adjusted for inflation, has stagnated for the last 40 years
while the cost of living rises annually. As it stands, the
majority of millennials are being crushed by debt – both
educational and medical – while working more hours with
less income to show for it. According to the Federal
Reserve, millennials are poorer than preceding generations.
Additionally, while millennials have fewer assets than
Generation X and baby boomers, and have more debt than
boomers, their spending habits hardly vary from those
demographics. Finally, existing monetary woes have been
exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, where the
unemployment rate reached nearly 15%. Nonetheless,
surmounting financial instability isn't the only reason
millennials are opting out of parenthood.
Climate anxiety continues to shift people's views on whether
to bring humans into a world that's flirting with multiple
natural catastrophes. According to the Scientific American
,
climate change will reach the point of no return by the year
2036. By this time, if carbon emissions continue to rise at
their current rate, the Earth will warm by two degrees
Celsius and spark a chain reaction of natural disasters that
include floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, drought, wildfires,
famine, and extreme temperatures. "Most scientists concur
that two degrees Celsius of warming above the temperature
during pre-industrial time would harm all sectors of
civilization—food, water, health, land, national security,
energy, and economic prosperity," states climate scientist,
Michael E. Mann. This is a world that many of child-bearing
age fear is unfair and irresponsible to bring offspring into.
From an optimistic perspective, one can infer that
millennials are having fewer children due to greater access
to safe contraceptives.
Additionally, where legal, people
have more options concerning their bodies if they do get
pregnant. Women today have more opportunities for a
livelihood that doesn't center marriage and children, and
opt for education, careers, and singlehood instead. A 2018
study found that the top three priorities of 42% of single
American women include independent living, career, and
financial stability. The majority of single women are also
more concerned with travel, marriage, and home ownership
years down the line. This shift in priorities is no surprise.
According to a study by the Russell Sage Foundation, full-
time working mothers dedicate the same amount of time to
domestic labor as housewives did in the 1970s. This begs
the question as to what women have to gain from starting
families, other than added pressure and responsibility in
and outside of the home.
Finally, millennials are second-guessing the idea of children
due to the simple state of being overwhelmed. Millennials
have been dubbed "The Burnout Generation" by journalist
Anne Helen Peterson, who states, "Our capacity to burnout
and keep working is our greatest value." As a generation,
millennials have been taught that hard work is the only way
that they will ever succeed. However, with the oldest
millennials being 38 years old, most have yet to taste that
success. How can child rearing be prioritized when so little
of the work to supplement such a lifestyle is paying off? In
addition to stagnant wages, it's increasingly challenging to
find jobs that offer benefits and some chance at retirement
or the accumulation of savings. At this juncture, millennials
are more likely to take plants and animals into their care,
rather than birth children, as this feels like the more
responsible and financially sound life decision to make.
While a considerable amount of millennials don't want to
have children, there are still those who do. However, with
the growing uncertainty surrounding finances, the
environment, career trajectory, and the world's general
state of affairs, it's natural that even those who want
children pause at the thought. Is it ethical to bring children
into a world fraught with civil unrest, healthcare shortages,
educational hardships, climate crisis, and a volatile
economy? Should millennials trust that their world will
improve and have babies anyway? As one generation,
millennials have faced two financial disasters – the 2008
stock market crash and the COVID-19 pandemic – that
have substantially slowed their pace toward adulthood's
milestones.
Additionally, individuals of this generation have forebodings
surrounding war and nuclear attack, as the last 30 years
(the majority of most millennials' lives) have been
punctuated by armed conflict and violence, domestic and
abroad. Consequently, only time will tell whether a cultural,
financial, and/or worldwide shift allows millennials to birth
children with confidence. Until then, many will opt out of
traditional family structures in favor of a household they can
sustain.
PAGE 19 July Issue 2021