Birth Rate Rebounds After Recession

There were 62.9 births per 1,000 women of child-bearing age in the U.S. last year, up from 62.5 in 2013—the first increase in that number since the recession began in 2007—a sign that the country is recovering from its economic woes. The recession prompted many women to delay child-bearing, experts say, and particularly affected younger and less-educated women. Experts say the increase was significant—3 percent—among women in their thirties; the number for women in their twenties did not decline, as it did the year before. Some estimates say the U.S. would have had more than 2.3 million more children had the recession not happened.