The Hidden Cost of the Recession: Two Million Fewer Births and Still Counting

The Great Recession sent an economic shock through American society that reached far beyond the stock and housing markets, including the substantial long-term impact the Great Recession is having on U.S. births. Nearly 2.3 million fewer babies were born in the United States between 2008 and 2013 than would have been expected if pre-recession fertility rates had been sustained (see Figure 1). In each of the last three years, this birth deficit has resulted in nearly 500,000 fewer births