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

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.”

Related Topics:#DecliningBirthRate #EmilyMangiaracina #LifeSiteNews #PopulationRate #RecordLowBirthRate #USBirthRate

Up Next

Climate Alarmists Want To Fight The Sun. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Don't Miss

Middle school girls who refused to compete against male banned from next track meet

Todayville

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

When Words Cook the Books: The Politics of ‘Investment-Speak’

Alberta / 8 hours ago

Nobel Prize nods to Alberta innovation in carbon capture

MxM News / 8 hours ago

Trump ‘Grateful’ For Bill Gates Pivot, Declares Victory Over ‘Climate Change Hoax’

International

Trump and Xi meet in South Korea, signal thaw after year of tariff wars

Published on October 30, 2025

Todayville

MxM News

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Thursday in South Korea for their first summit since Trump’s return to the White House, striking a tone of cautious optimism as they sought to cool trade tensions that have strained relations between the world’s two largest economies. Meeting at a South Korean air base, the two leaders exchanged warm greetings and spoke positively about finding common ground after a year of tariff battles. “Great pleasure to see you again,” Xi told Trump as cameras flashed. Trump responded that he expected a “very successful meeting” and predicted a “great understanding” between the two sides.

.@POTUS meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since 2019: "It's a great honor… I think we're going to have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time — and it's an honor to have you with us." pic.twitter.com/ueW2gvMcCy

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 30, 2025

Xi, speaking through an interpreter, praised Trump’s leadership and said China’s progress “goes hand in hand with your vision to make America great again.” He emphasized that both nations could “help each other succeed and prosper together,” framing the talks as a step toward renewed partnership rather than rivalry. The meeting followed weeks of negotiations between U.S. and Chinese trade officials, who had reached a “basic consensus” on key issues in advance. Xi noted that the talks yielded “encouraging progress” on “major concerns” for both nations and even commended Trump’s role in mediating other global disputes, including conflicts in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

According to U.S. officials, Trump’s team has signaled readiness to scale back select trade duties if Beijing meets enforcement commitments. The president is expected to ease some of those measures in exchange for China’s one-year suspension of export restrictions on rare-earth and critical minerals — materials vital to American manufacturing. In return, Beijing will reportedly intensify efforts to curb fentanyl smuggling, which U.S. data shows has contributed to roughly one in every 1,000 American deaths over the past five years. China is also preparing to resume large-scale soybean purchases, reversing retaliatory tariffs that hit U.S. farmers earlier this year.

While Trump acknowledged Xi as a “tough negotiator,” he told reporters he had “no doubt” the summit would deliver results. The meeting — framed around mutual economic relief and renewed cooperation — marked a rare bright spot in a relationship defined by tariffs, tech restrictions, and strategic competition. Whether the goodwill in Seoul translates into lasting policy changes remains to be seen, but Thursday’s encounter suggested both leaders are eager to ease tensions and show progress after a bruising trade standoff.

Health

Leslyn Lewis urges Canadians to fight WHO pandemic treaty before it’s legally binding

Published on October 29, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis is urging Canadians to demand a parliamentary debate on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, highlighting risks to national sovereignty.

Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Leslyn Lewis called on Canadians to petition against the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic treaty before it becomes legally binding.

In an October 23 post on X, Lewis encouraged Canadians to demand that politicians debate the WHO Pandemic Agreement before it becomes law after warnings that the treaty could undermine national freedom and lead to global surveillance.

“I have raised red flags about its implications on Canada’s health sovereignty and the federal government’s willingness to enter a legally binding treaty of this weight without any input from Parliament,” she declared.

In May, Canada, under Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney, adopted the treaty despite warnings that the agreement gives the globalist entity increased power in the event of another “pandemic.”

However, Lewis revealed that since the agreement has yet to be officially signed, Canada is not bound to it and can still make amendments.

“We are now in a critical window of opportunity to ask tough questions and debate the treaty before it is signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and binds our nation,” she explained.

Lewis encouraged Canadians to sign a petition calling for a debate of the agreement as well as contacting their local MPs to request a parliamentary review of the treaty.

Lewis revealed that Canadians’ persistent opposition to the treaty has already resulted in some of the more dangerous clauses, including restricting free speech, freedom of movement, and government surveillance, being removed from the final agreement.

“The removal of provisions on vaccine mandates, misinformation and disinformation, censorship requirements, travel restrictions, global surveillance, and mandatory health measures happened because people paid attention and spoke up,” she continued.

Among the most criticized parts of the agreement is the affirmation that “the World Health Organization is the directing and coordinating authority on international health work, including on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”

While the agreement claims to uphold “the principle of the sovereignty of States in addressing public health matters,” it also calls for a globally unified response in the event of a pandemic, stating plainly that “(t)he Parties shall promote a One Health approach for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”