birth rate

As Ukraine's birth rate plunges, here's what one doctor is doing to reverse the trend

5:00am October 22, 2024

Ukraine is suffering from more than a Russian invasion. Births have plummeted. But many families with help from the government and doctors are trying to buck the trend and have a child in wartime.

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Politics & Government

North Carolina's birth rate is declining, data shows

4:10pm July 03, 2024

by Paul Garber

Recent census figures show that the average age of North Carolinians is continuing to increase, mostly due to a decline in the fertility rate.

Wake Forest University School of Medicine awarded grant to research birth outcome disparities

10:57am March 01, 2024

by Neal Charnoff

The Wake Forest University School of Medicine has received a major grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust for a project aimed at reducing disparities in birth outcomes.

This photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean women attend the National Mothers' Meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea on Dec. 3, 2023. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified.

World News

North Korea confronts a modern-day challenge: a declining population

5:00am December 13, 2023

by Se Eun Gong

In a rare admission, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says his country's birth rate is too low. Experts see no working solution for a looming population crisis.

Health & Safety

North Carolina's birth rate has rebounded after a pandemic dip

3:51pm July 11, 2023

by April Laissle

North Carolina’s birth rate has rebounded after a significant dip during the pandemic.

Taiki and Arisa Chisaka watch as their son Tatara plays at a city-run child care center in western Japan's Akashi city.

World News

Japan's plan to boost its birthrate raises doubt. But one city has reason for hope

7:24am June 24, 2023

by Anthony Kuhn

For years, Japanese leaders have tried to halt the country's falling birthrate. They might find lessons in the city of Akashi, whose population has been growing.

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Plastic babies are used to demonstrate parenting techniques at a class for new parents in Kyiv.

World News

Ukraine's birth rate was already dangerously low. Then war broke out

3:11pm February 22, 2023

The Russian invasion has cemented the decision for many couples to opt out of having babies, in a country that struggled with incredibly low fertility rates long before the war.

The U.S. birth rate went up in 2021. Here, a baby is seen in a hospital in McAllen, Texas in 2020.

The 2021 rise in U.S. births is likely a baby blip, not a boom

2:29pm July 19, 2022

by Bill Chappell

The U.S. birth rate has been trending downwards over the past 15 years — so the news that the number of births actually rose in 2021 is making headlines.

Traffic clogs Highway 101 as people leave work in Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 2014.

Politics & Government

U.S. Population Growth In 2019 Is Slowest In A Century

9:35pm December 31, 2019

by David Welna

Falling birth rates and rising death rates, combined with a significant drop in immigration, have slowed U.S. population growth to its lowest level since 1918.

The number of babies born in Japan fell an estimated 5.9% this year, to under 900,000. Here, a baby is held aloft by a sumo wrestler during Tokyo's Nakizumo Festival in April.

World News

Japan's Births Decline To Lowest Number On Record

1:55pm December 24, 2019

by Laurel Wamsley

The country's natural population declined by more than 500,000 this year. A number of factors have led to Japan's plummeting birth rate and a growing demographic crisis.