As birth rates in several states decline, Virginia and Hampton Roads rates have remained consistent, says state health officials.
Birth rates are the number of live births per thousand people per year. New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia, Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi and Wyoming all lost population in recent years, U.S. Census Bureau data shows.
The national statistics show birth rates declined in the last two years after a bloom of births in 2014. Experts say women are delaying or not having children for a number of reasons including the availability of birth control, to pursue careers and educational opportunities as well as because of economic factors like the cost of raising a child.
Two states that lost population — Maine and New Mexico — saw slight increases in population between 2015 and 2016, the federal agency reports.
In Virginia, birth rates have been consistent over the past five years, Virginia Department of Health spokeswoman Lauren Cunningham said in an email prepared for the state health department’s Division of Population Health Data, which recently reviewed data on birth rates in Virginia.
“There is no significant fluctuation in births; this applies to Virginia and the Hampton roads area,” the division said in the email.
Women in Virginia gave birth to more than 103,000 babies in 2015, with roughly 22,000 born in the health department district that includes Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, as well as York, James City and Isle of Wight counties.
Teen pregnancy, nonmarital births and induced terminations decreased statewide but have not caused birth rates to change much, the division reported.
Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, California, Louisiana, New Jersey, Massachusetts and four other states had population growth between 0.02 and 0.66 percent — less than the nation’s increase in population of 0.7 percent — between 2015 and 2016, Census data shows.
“States in the South and West continued to lead in population growth,” said Ben Bolender, U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Branch Chief in a news release. “In 2016, 37.9 percent of the nation’s population lived in the South and 23.7 percent lived in the West.”
William Frey, a demographer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution said fertility rates remain high nationwide, despite declines in birth rates. While other countries face steeper population declines, the U.S. is doing relatively well, he said.
“The United States can look forward to continued population growth, albeit at lower levels, for decades to come,” Frey said.
Canty can be reached by phone at 757-247-4832.
