Claire Smith, spokesperson from the Department of Health Services said the number of babies born in Wisconsin declined for the sixth year in a row last year.Note that what is being reported is not a decline in population (because of people moving to Florida or baby boomers dying), but a decrease in new births.
The department recorded 66,566 live births to residents of Wisconsin in 2013, 633 fewer than the previous year. The teen birth rate also declined, with a crude rate of 19.7 births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19, compared to 21.9 births in 2012.
Speculation at the link is that this reflects a response by residents to the economic slowdown, which started with the 2007-2008 recession. And that this is not just a local phenomenon, but has been noted elsewhere in this country.
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