Birth rate in the U.S.

You may be aware that for quite some time, the overall birth rate in the U.S. has been dropping. However, some states are making a comeback in this regard. The following map shows which states’ birth rates are rising or falling the fastest.  It covers the period 2010 to 2016. Note that the states shown as High do not necessarily have high birth rates; rather they have the highest increase in their birth rate compared to other states. Similarly, Low means the decrease in rate is greatest there, but it may still be relatively high. The changes may be due to migration, immigration, a changing demographic (e.g. young/old or ethnicity), or economic factors among other reasons. In general, though, an increase signifies an increased vitality in a state or at the very least, a lessening of a pessimism or depression that may have existed. The zero change point is between Colorado and Oregon. Darker green means positive change in birth rate, while the paler the green or yellow, the more the birth rate has dropped.

The increase for North Dakota was just over 25%, and for D.C. about 7.5%.  The decrease for New Mexico was about 11% and Vermont 7.5%. All the other states were in the range from -7% to +4.8%.

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