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International

U.S. birth rate hit record low last year, signaling surge in childlessness

Published

11 months ago

5 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Emily Mangiaracina

As data analyst Stephen Shaw has documented in his film ‘Birthgap,’ declining birth rates in the U.S. and around the world are being driven by an ‘explosion’ in women choosing not to have children.

The U.S. birth rate hit a record low last year of 1.62 births per woman according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of a worldwide trend of declining birth rates that have been shown to stem from rising childlessness.

The U.S. has had birth rates mostly below replacement level since 1972, according to United Nations (UN) data, with a minor brief respite from 2006 to 2007, when birth rates were just at replacement level. Birth rates hovered near replacement level from about 1989 to its recent peak of 2.11 births per woman in 2007. Since then, the birth rate has steadily declined.

The new CDC data shows that the birth rate for women ages 20 to 24 has seen a particularly steep decline of 47% since 2007. From 2022 to 2023 alone, the number of births for this age group dropped 4%.

As data analyst Stephen Shaw has documented in his film “Birthgap,” declining birth rates not just in the U.S. but around the world are being driven not by smaller family sizes but by an “explosion” in childlessness.

By comparing statistics on first-time mothers and the number of children they go on to have with national fertility rates, Shaw found that childlessness rates skyrocketed within only a few years in many countries.

For example, in Japan in 1974, one in 20 women were childless. By 1977, this ratio was one in four, and by 1990, it had reached one in three, a statistic that held in 2020. While Shaw doesn’t give specific numbers for most countries, he shares that most have become, like Italy and Japan, “childless nations,” where one-third or more people will become “childless for life.”

And according to the Pew Research Center, by 2010, “Nearly one-in-five American women end(ed) her childbearing years without having borne a child, compared with one-in-10 in the 1970s.” As of 2018, 41% of women between the ages of 25 and 44 were single and childless, and that number is projected to spike to a whopping 45% by 2030.

Just as remarkable as this trend is the finding in a Dutch meta-analysis, cited by author Jody Day in Shaw’s “Birthgap” film, and using data from the early 2000s, that only 10 percent of such women are childless “by choice,” and another 10 percent are childless due to “known” medical reasons, including infertility.

Shaw highlighted what appear to be contributing factors: childbearing is delayed until a woman’s fertility window closes; women tend to want to settle with men at least as educated as they are, and everywhere, significantly more women are attending college than men; there are “too many options;” a number of young men are staying at home playing video games instead of pursuing women (or have given up on that).

Many speculate that increased pornography use and addiction is disincentivizing young men’s pursuit of women, and that overuse of technology is leading many young men and women to live isolated from each other.

The increasing secularization of society may also lead to growing numbers of childless women (and men) through a whole slew of hard-to-quantify factors, including by diminishing young people’s sense of purpose and happiness, and depriving them of character formation and a meaningful, effective way to select a mate.

Commentators such as Elon Musk have warned that if global birth rates continue to decline at their current projected rates, “human civilization will end.”

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International

Pope Francis appears frail as he returns to Vatican following 38-day hospital stay

Published on March 24, 2025

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From LifeSiteNews

By Michael Haynes, Snr. Vatican Correspondent

The Pope blessed the gathered crowd at Rome’s Gemelli hospital before leaving to return to his Vatican residence.

Pope Francis made his return to the Vatican Sunday, after first greeting crowds from the balcony of the Gemelli hospital.

For the first time in 38 days, Pope Francis appeared before the public eye on Sunday. Greeting crowds who had gathered outside the Gemelli hospital where he has been treated for double pneumonia since February 14, Francis was noticeably weakened and frail.

He wore no nasal cannulas during his less than three minute greeting on the balcony. But the toll of being without oxygen was marked, as Francis appeared particularly breathless as he was wheeled back inside.

Francis thanked the crowds before singling out and praising a woman who had brought a bouquet of flowers with her.

Accompanied by his personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti, Francis did not seem able to raise his arms freely. After a very brief few words of thanks, Francis had to be reminded to give his blessing before then being wheeled inside by Strappetti.

This was the first time the Pope had been seen in-person since his hospitalization in mid-February – an event which his doctors noted Saturday was fraught with considerable life-threatening danger for the Pope.

Following his balcony appearance – which was live-streamed on the Vatican News media channels – Francis was driven back to the Vatican in his customary Fiat 500. But he made an unscheduled stop at St. Mary Major’s on the journey, giving the bouquet of flowers he had noticed at the hospital to the Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, the co-adjutor priest of Francis’ favored Roman basilica.

The event was in keeping with Francis’ long-established custom of visiting the icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani, in the basilica before and after every papal trip he has made. Indeed he has announced his desire to be buried in the basilica, and preparations have begun accordingly to ready an area close to the icon for his interment.

His motor and respiratory therapy will continue, as evidenced by the undeniable need for oxygen yesterday when he did not use it for three minutes on the balcony.

Doctors stated during Saturday’s press conference that Francis nearly lost his life twice during his time in the hospital, confirming reports which had circulated about the Pope’s condition. Indeed, Dr. Sergio Alfieri, who leads the Pope’s medical team, said that when Francis was hospitalized February 14 he “presented [with] an acute respiratory failure,” which led to “severe” double pneumonia.

Nurse Strappetti and Dr. Luigi Carbone – who is deputy director of the Health and Hygiene Department of Vatican City State and Francis’ physician in the Vatican – will coordinate the daily medical care of the Pope.

His social contact is limited by necessity as doctors warn about the danger of his contracting any new infection. As such, it will likely be the case that his already small inner circle of three secretaries and medical staff will be those who form part of Francis’ daily household.

While a regular visitor in the Pope’s normal schedule, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin only visited Francis three times in his 38-day hospitalization. Such a distance between them would suggest that Parolin himself might not be anticipated to be as regular a visitor as in the past.

For now, though, Francis’ pontificate is going to be placed under particular scrutiny. He has returned to the Vatican but he is expected to be a much more hidden and vocally quiet pontiff than before.

Yet perhaps, bereft of voice, he will focus more on issuing documents and pushing through agendas he has long had in mind – such as the recent three-year extension of the Synod on Synodality.

Doctors described him as eager to return to work. His appearance on Sunday gave the impression of a man much more frail than the image painted by his clinical team.

Whether a quiet period will descend upon Vatican hill, or a season of frenzied activity begins, now remains to be seen.

Regardless, speculation of a conclave has already long begun thanks to Francis’ hospitalization, and cardinals will likely be ever more on the lookout for candidates as the year progresses.

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Business

Trump Tariffs are not going away. Canada needs to adapt or face the consequences

Published on March 23, 2025

By

Canadian politicians seem highly focused on fighting the Trump Tariffs with counter tariffs.  This tit for tat battle is like catnip for politicians and media, but it takes attention away from the real situation.  Tariffs are not something we can try to get rid.  Tariffs aren’t a ploy by Trump to influence Canada to strengthen border control.  This is the beginning of the end for the free trade agreement that Canada has 0rganized its entire economy around.

Bob Lighthizer was President Donald Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative during the first Trump administration, from 2017 to 2021.  Watch / Listen to this conversation as Lighthizer explains how Free Trade did not work out well for the American worker. As Lighthizer explains, Free Trade has boosted China, Mexico, and numerous nations where labour is cheap.

The second Trump administration is determined to bring manufacturers back to the US and countries like Canada better adapt fast or the price we’ll pay will be even steeper.

It doesn’t matter if we agree, or disagree, or how many counter tariffs Canadians apply.  The only way out of this mess will be to rebuild the manufacturing sector in Canada and to develop our resources like never before.  The sooner Canada sheds the chains of a net zero focused economy the more likely our nation will survive.

Enjoy this fascinating conversation and apply what you learn to how you see Canada adapting to the new reality.

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