Federal data released Thursday shows that the birth rate in the United States has fallen to a record low.
The provisional numbers reveal there were just 1.62 births per woman in 2023 – a two percent decline from 2022, and the lowest rate ever since the government began tracking the data in the 1930s. In total, there were about 3.59 million births in the U.S. last year, with declines seen across all races and ethnicities. According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of births last year was the lowest since 1979.
The numbers indicate a future population crisis for the U.S. as they fall well below the “replacement rate,” which is considered to be 2.1 births per woman.
“The total fertility rate in 2023 remained below replacement — the level at which a given generation can exactly replace itself (2,100 births per 1,000 women),” the report read. “The rate has generally been below replacement since 1971 and consistently below replacement since 2007.”
“We’ve certainly had larger declines in the past. But decline fits the general pattern,” said Dr. Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics and lead author of the new report.
Elon Musk, who has been outspoken in raising the alarm about the world’s plummeting population, warned that the U.S. is “heading for extinction.”
While many other countries are worse, America is trending towards extinction! https://t.co/x6ak0T1k5r
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2024
“While many countries are worse, America is heading for extinction!” he said in a tweet.
Indeed, as Musk notes, America is not alone in this crisis. Numerous countries around the world are experiencing plummeting birth rates, with some, like South Korea, Japan, and Hungary, implementing incentives like stipends and tax write-offs to families in an effort to boost population. Several recent reports indicate that Greece is likely to be the first country to experience a total population collapse. Reportedly, many villages there have not reported a single birth in years.
Despite these objectives, worldwide abortion continues to be pushed as a fundamental “right.” As long as society continues to view children as an inconvenience while advocating for their slaughter in the womb, the population crisis will continue to worsen.