Introduction

In the United States, birth rates are at historic squats. The provisional general fertility for 2017 was less than half of the peak of the baby boom. The fertility rate is the number of children that can be borne by 1000 women in a given population (Buckles 2019).  Currently, the fertility rate is low, stagnating at 1.83 which the states feel comfortable while managing it. The focus of this paper is on the reasons for the reduced fertility rates, and their merits and demerits associated with such decrease.

Why Do We See Reduced Fertility Rates

The fertility rate in the United States has been decreasing since 2007 to attain the current trend which is below the replacement level (Buckles 2019). According to the National Survey and of Family Growth (NSFG), there is a reduced rate of unintended pregnancies among the unmarried and young women in the U.S (Buckles 2019). The unwanted birth refers to the occurrence of delivery earlier than the woman would have liked. The U.S state wants to spend fewer funds such as the Social Security Trust Funds due to decreased aged dependency ratio; and thus, constituting the decrease in fertility rate.  The use of the contraceptives is also contributing to the decline in the fertility rate. The male and female contraceptives are given for free in the United States to help the people have protected sex and prevent the unwanted pregnancies and contraction of genital diseases. The need to experience less competition in the market, especially among women is associated with low fertility rates. As a result, women would want to have opportunities with good wages and fast career advancement and have low birthrates.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Declining Fertility Rate

Advantages

Declining fertility rate helps in having a manageable population by the state and families. Children require basic needs such as education, which is costly and thus, providing education for two or fewer children is bearable. The low fertility rate in the United States has accelerated many development indicators. More of the government resources are used in the development of the states rather than catering rot the welfare of the increased population (Munnell et al. 2018). The government invests in the health sectors to ensure that people can access health services at subsidized cost, hence promoting healthy being. The children of low fertility rate access quality health care services since it is cheaper than for many children. As a result, there are reduced postnatal and prenatal mortality rates. The low population is comfortably accommodated in the job sectors. Indeed, most of the learned and skilled people get employed by the government as others start a healthy business.  Also, families and especially mothers receive good maternity care in healthcare centers through the innovations of baby booms.

Disadvantages

The Economy of the state is dependent on the population of the country since the more people are involved in business activities, the more the economy of the state. However, this relies on the fraction of the population that is produced within the marketplace. The government resources are allocated based on the people of a given community (Miller, 2018). As a result, some communities receive fewer care facilities due to low populations. There are also fewer turnovers for individual business persons and shopkeepers. The production activities for families is limited despite having large tracts of lands; such as due to fewer people who need to be sustained and limited potential customers for the agricultural resources.

Conclusion

The fertility rate has undergone various trends in the US until recently stabilizing at 1.83. However, the decline has helped the states keep a manageable population, which has constituted a low level of poverty and rapid development. Similarly, there are no issues of street children and terrorism which result due to idling and unemployment.

References

Buckles, K., Guldi, M. E., & Schmidt, L. (2019). Fertility Trends in the United States, 1980-2017: The Role of Unintended Births (No. w25521). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Munnell, A. H., & Sanzenbacher, G. T. (2018). IS THE DROP IN FERTILITY TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT? Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, 18(14), 1-11.

Miller, C. C. (2018). Americans are having fewer babies. They told us why in The New York Times.