Opinion: Does our country's low birth rate concern you? | The Excerpt
On a bonus episode (first released on March 31, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: We asked: Do you agree with Millennials and Gen Zers who are waiting longer to have kids - or deciding not to have them at all? Could anything help to change it? What went into your decision regarding whether you wanted to become a parent? Forum is a new series from Paste BN's Opinion team, dedicated to showcasing views from across the political spectrum on issues that Americans are starkly divided on.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Michael McCarter:
Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Michael McCarter, Vice President and Group Editor of the Opinion Sections of Gannett, the parent company of Paste BN. This is a bonus episode of The Excerpt highlighting the series from Paste BN's opinion team that's known as Forum. It's a weekly space dedicated to showcasing views from across the political spectrum on issues that Americans are starkly divided on.
Today we're hearing from a few folks about their feelings on the fertility rate in America. The US fertility rate dropped to a historic low in 2023 to only 3.6 million births. So we asked, does the low birth rate concern you? Do you agree with millennials and Gen Zers who are waiting longer to have kids or deciding not to have them at all? Here are some of their answers.
Essence Tillery:
I am not concerned about the declining US birth rate because I feel that puts a little too much pressure on the people they're expecting it from. Just because most of the concerns about the US birth rate have to do with like paying for like retirement for older generations and not so much about the quality of the life of the people who have to create those future generations.
Michael McCarter:
That was Essence Tillery. She's 33 and lives in Highland Park, Illinois. We also asked readers, what could be done to increase the birth rate and what went into their personal decision about having kids?
Essence Tillery:
To increase the birth and fertility rate in America, two things. One, the standard stuff, free healthcare, childcare, more flexible work options would be a start because to make it easier for people, but also I definitely think we have to look at some of the environmental factors because I think we haven't really addressed pollution and the role microplastics have. Why we have rising infertility?
It's probably because of the crud that's in our environment, but no one's willing to hold corporations accountable. So I do not have any children and our plans to have them are on the fence. I would need reliable childcare. My parents are 15 years away from retirement. I have a much younger brother, and my husband's parents turned 70 this year and are nearly an hour away. So if you don't have a flexible job and reliable childcare, it doesn't seem like it would make sense.
So unless my husband and I can figure out a way to keep our cost of living low while not just drowning in childcare costs, it really doesn't make sense. I do agree with other millennials and Gen Z that waiting longer to have children is fine just because at the end of the day, you're the only one that's responsible for your children if no one's coming to help you. Your problems are your own.
Michael McCarter:
Rick Salick, who lives in Monument, Colorado, is feeling concerned. He thinks social media is one of the factors causing the birth rate to fall. He's 56.
Rick Salick:
I am concerned not just for the population, but also because I think it's universal around the last say two or three generations XYZ, whichever ones you want to put into that. And I think that unless something were to change, I expect that it's going to continue in that direction. I think that it's heavily influenced by a variety of things.
There's no one piece of it, but I do think that things like social media, the family unit in general, how people are I think I used the word selfish, but didn't mean it as they're only about themselves, but people are thinking about themselves more. And I think a lot of that comes from not just parenting, but the social media side of it where people are less social. They're on their own more.
They don't think about the family unit, in my mind, the way that people have in past generations. I came from a big family, so that was certainly an influence. We were a blended family. My mother's twin sister and her husband were killed in a car accident when they were very young. They had five kids, so we all just came together as a group of nine, and that's how we grew up.
And we've always stayed very close since then. I've had a good experience with a big family and having a lot of people around, so I get concerned that some kids maybe either they're not being raised that way or they just don't see the value in it because they're not experiencing it.
Evie Webb:
I'm not particularly concerned about the declining US birth rate. I mean, we already have big enough issues with homelessness and stuff as it is. I think the biggest issue there is a declining population is less able to take care of an aging elderly population. But I, at least personally, I just think that that is not as big a concern as other strains on resources from overpopulation.
Michael McCarter:
That's Evie Webb. She's 18 and lives in Golden, Colorado. She told us that focusing on reproductive health could help here.
Evie Webb:
There's good evidence to show that things like actually increasing access to abortion and contraception, as well as sex education increase the birth rate. More than that, things like economic stability always contributes to a better birth rate. I do not currently have children, but I do plan to have some once I'm out of college.
Waiting until you are a fully mature adult in an economically stable and responsible place is I think exactly what we should be doing before having kids. It doesn't hurt them any for their parents to be slightly older, but it helps them so much for them to be fully mature. I know that my parents were very young when they had me. And as I was growing up, they were still struggling with a lot of themselves also having to grow up along with that.
Another thing to keep in mind is that pregnancy and childbirth is very dangerous, so I do also think that that is something that needs to be taken into account. What pressures are we putting on people to do something that is this dangerous for their health, even if they want to?
Michael McCarter:
Anthony Calderoni lives in Jamestown, North Carolina. He's 36 and told us he's not concerned about the lowering birth rate, but that he is feeling that rising costs are standing in the way of some people being able to expand their families.
Anthony Calderoni :
It certainly is declining, but it is not declining rapidly. I know personally the challenges my family has is just the cost of raising children. One of the challenges is certainly people are getting married later in life. Some of that may be financial as well. I know personally maturity is part of it. My wife and I are certainly much more mature at post 25 than we were pre 25, but the cost of having more children, like for our family, that's the biggest one for us.
We currently have three children, and we constantly talk about having a fourth. And the costs are just so high. The cost of daycare, we're evaluating that cost right now and the range seems to be about $280 a week on the cheaper side to about $350 per week on the more expensive side in this location. I agree with millennials and Gen Z. They're certainly waiting longer to have children if they decide to have them.
I agree with this. Now, some people certainly are just like, "I'm out. I'm done. I've had enough. This is enough work." But very often people who do want more and decide not to have more, it's either health related or just the cost of it, and that's where my wife and I are at.
Michael McCarter:
That's all we have for today's episode. This is a co-production with the Forum team at Paste BN, where we invite our readers to weigh in writing on a national topic of interest. If your submission is selected for print, we might invite you to add your voice to a future special bonus episode like this one. There's a link to Forum in the show description. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Michael McCarter, Vice President of the Opinion Group. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.