Atlanta, Ga., Jan 16, 2008 / 17:42 pm
Recent studies show that more babies were born in the United States in 2006 than in any year since 1961. Figures for 2006 indicate that 4.3 million children were born to mothers, creating a baby boomlet, the Associated Press reports.
Experts attribute the rise in births to a larger population and in particular, a growing number of Hispanics. The burgeoning Hispanic population doesn’t completely explain the upward swing because women from all races are having more children.
An Associated Press review of birth numbers reaching back to 1909 found the total number of U.S. births in 2006 was the highest since 1961, near the end of the baby boom. When the global picture is brought into focus, the United States has a higher fertility rate than every country in continental Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan.
Some factors cited by fertility experts to explain the difference between the U.S. and other industrialized nations are: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty, but also better economic opportunities for American mothers returning to work.