It may not qualify as a baby boom, but U.S. births were up in 2021 for the first time in years.
New federal government data show a 1% increase in births from 2020, with more than 3.6 million births last year. It was the first increase in seven years.
The general fertility rate for 2021 also rose 1%, with 56.6 births for every 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44.
That slight bump upwards marks at least a turnaround from the “baby bust” of the first pandemic year: Both the fertility rate and number of births declined a significant 4% between 2019 and 2020, the report’s authors noted.
However, “we’re still not returning to pre-pandemic levels,” Dr. Denise Jamieson, chair of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine, told the Associated Press….