The Covid Baby Bust Could Reverberate for Decades – WSJ

The number of babies born globally has declined sharply in the last year, with the combined effects of the pandemic, lockdown restrictions and the global recession that followed all weighing on the fertility rate. The effects on some businesses will be immediate, but a large part of the demographic impact may be permanent, meaning that there will be longer-running economic effects too.

The Brookings Institution estimates that there will be 300,000 fewer U.S. births in 2021 than would have been expected prior to the pandemic. There were 3.8 million U.S. births recorded in 2019. China reported just over 10 million births last year, down by more than 12% from the 11.8 million births in the previous year.

The drop has accelerated the general trend towards lower fertility rates, especially in developed countries. Japan s famously low fertility rate is less markedly different now than it was 20 years ago. In Germany, the U.S., U.K. and France the total fertility rate the number of children an average woman will have in her lifetime is now below two, and not expected to rise. Japan s rate fell to 1.36 in 2019.

via www.wsj.com

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