The replacement level or rate needed to sustain the population is 2.1, a rate the U.S. met roughly two decades ago. The decline reflects broader social and economic shifts, including delayed marriage and parenthood. But economists and demographers cited in a Realtor.com report point to housing costs as a significant factor. Larger homes that can comfortably accommodate multiple children have become increasingly out of reach for many families, Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, said in the report.
Yet perhaps it's time we ask not only why aren't women having babies?, but also why aren't men? Men are largely invisible in the birthrate debate. It's ironic that amid all the pontificating and the policy ideas for encouraging more women to have babies a conversation often being had by men the other half of humanity is strikingly underexamined. Part of the problem is an absence of data: like many European countries, we don't really have any on male fertility.