U.S. Births Highest in 45 Years

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The growing number of Hispanics resulted in nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. However, non-Hispanic white women and other ethnic groups were having more babies as well.

An Associated Press review of birth numbers dating to 1909 found the total number of U.S. births was the highest since 1961, near the end of the baby boom.

The analysis of data in the U.S. also shows a higher rate of fertility than every country in continental Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan.

The fertility rates in these countries have been well below the fertility rates in the United States for several years. Although, the fertility rates in France have been on the rise.

Experts researching the causes of the higher birth rate believe there are a number of reasons to the high increase: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty.

Cultural issues also play a role; Hispanics as a group have higher fertility rates, about 40 percent higher than the U.S. overall. America also views children as more favorable than many other Westernized countries.

"Americans like children. We are the only people who respond to prosperity by saying, `Let's have another kid,'" said Nan Marie Astone, associate professor of population, family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University.

Demographers say it is to early to determine if this sudden increase in births is the start of a new trend. Rather than calling this sudden increase a boom, demographers refer to this increase as a "boomlet."

"We have to wait and see. For now, I would call it a noticeable blip," said Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Economists and policymakers say the increase is good news. The "magic number" for the population to replace itself is 2.1, which is exactly what the number of children women are expected to have in their lifetime.

Japan and Italy, two countries who have much lower birth rates, around 1.3, may face labor shortages and eroding tax bases because they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their elders.

However, there is a downside to the increase of births. For example, last month the CDC reported that America's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years. The report also showed births becoming more common among every age and ethnic group.

Birth rates increased for women in their 20s, 30s and early 40s, not just teens. They rose for whites, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Alaska Natives. The rate for Asian women stayed about the same.

The birth rates are not nearly what they were in the 50's and 60's when they were nearly twice as high because large families were more of the norm. The increase of the birth rate simply means that women are having a couple of children each rather than a few women having several children.

Some people are worried and complain that illegal immigrants come to the U.S. for the sole purpose of having children because the child automatically becomes a U.S. citizen.

"The child is an automatic American citizen, thus entitled to all benefits of American citizens. This gives a certain financial incentive for people coming from other countries illegally to have children here," said John Vinson, president of the Virginia-based American Immigration Control Foundation.

Hans-Peter Kohler, a University of Pennsylvania sociology professor, says the number of births in America has more to do with culture than it does with race.

For example, white American women have more children than white European — even though many nations in Europe have more family-friendly government policies on parental leave and child care.