Pandemic baby boom? It’s a bust despite coronavirus lockdowns
- US data shows large declines in births nine months after Covid-19 was declared a national emergency
- A separate survey shows some women have decided to delay pregnancy or have fewer children because of the pandemic
Early in the pandemic, some speculated that couples isolated together during lockdowns might produce a year-end baby boom. The opposite occurred.
Five US states have provided monthly birth data through December – Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii and Ohio – and their reports show large declines nine months after Covid-19 was declared a national emergency. More than 50,000 fewer births occurred in these states in 2020 compared with a year earlier.
In California, the largest state by population, December births fell 19 per cent from a year earlier. Data gathered through July 1, 2020, revealed that the Golden State had added just 21,200 residents, the slowest rate of growth since 1900.
Estimates from the state’s Department of Finance show elevated deaths – due to an ageing population and the virus – along with less international migration put a brake on population growth.
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“These are, to put it mildly, very larges declines in historical terms,” said Philip Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, regarding the California drop.