Fox News Senior Medical Analyst Marc Siegel made some eyebrow-raising comments lamenting that birth rates are down among teenagers aged 15 to 19.

On Thursday, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that the U.S. fertility rate fell to another record low. The agency reported that the number of births per 1,000 women of childbearing age declined from 53.8 in 2024 to 53.1 last year. The latest figure represents a continuation of a decades-long decline in fertility rates.

Siegel joined Friday’s edition of America’s Newsroom, where Dana Perino said that while the continuing trend is not surprising, “the numbers might feel a little shocking.”

  • moakley@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    The replacement rate is down to 1.56, meaning every couple is having, on average, 1.56 children in the United States. We need two or above to keep the population at the same amount.

    There’s actually another way to keep the population up, and it’s great for America economically and culturally, and it makes the world a better place at the same time.

    • running_ragged@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Or maybe we give up on an economic model that requires unending population growth? Since you know, we live on a finite planet?

      We have to find a path to degrowth. Stop repeating talking points that imply population growth is our only path forward.

      • moakley@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        Did you not understand that I was talking about immigration? Which is one of the ways we solve that. All of that.

        Besides which we’re actually talking about keeping the population stable. A declining population is bad for everyone economically. Luckily population growth naturally slows down in modernized societies, which is why allowing people to immigrate is good for everyone.