Fertility Needs Friendship

Collapsing Social Life Is Making Family Formation Harder

Since 2007, the U.S. fertility rate has declined from 2.1 to 1.6 children per woman—a loss of half a child. These numbers lead many to think that married couples suddenly decided to have fewer children, but that is incorrect. Couples are not foregoing children more today than in 2007. Married fertility has slipped slightly since then, but what actually …