According to the CDC, birth rates have dropped across the country since 2016 — and in Missouri, the rates are higher than the national average, hovering around 7%. Nationwide, 350,000 fewer children were born in 2020 than four years earlier.
And numbers have been in decline since far before 2016, too. Dr. Roxane Rampersad, a WashU professor and OB-GYN at Barnes Jewish Hospital, tells KMOX that the birth rate in 2007 was as high as 4.3 million, and in 2020 that dropped to 3.6 million.
“Economists and a lot of groups that are watching this are concerned because we don't want our birth rate to be lower than our death rate,” Dr. Rampersad told KMOX. “That's how our economy strives. And so it's concerning to see this decline in trends.”
Dr. Rampersad said there are a few reasons the birth rate is declining — many women are delaying childbearing to pursue higher education, establish professional lives, or even just to save money.
“Women and families know that childcare is not cheap,” she said. “And so there's the higher cost of childcare, I think for many is playing into that decision.”
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There’s also been a decrease in teen pregnancy, she said, but noted that she’ll be interested to see the numbers now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, criminalizing abortion in many states.
Missouri in particular also has a high maternal mortality rate, with figures showing that 25 out of 100,000 mothers will die during childbirth. Dr. Rampersad said part of it is due to lack of services for women in the state, plus racial disparities between Black and White women.
“I'm really glad that the governor actually is taking this seriously. And I know he pledged some money, I think, to help our state to improve that,” she said. “One of the things that the state's thinking about is maybe adding doula services to help with decreasing the mortality rate. I think there's a lot of things — we're studying that now in the mortality review boards. And so I'm hoping that will sort of make a difference and close that gap and change our rates.”
Hear more from Dr. Roxane Rampersad on the country and state’s declining birth rates:
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