The Boomlet

I just found out yesterday that another one of my friends is pregnant. And M, in a drunken state did a double take at the wedding at an old friend who is very petite and about 10 days away from giving birth. M exclaimed with arms outstretched, "Whoa...WHOA!" at the size of her belly. Although I've tried to believe what people were telling me, that this was just because my friends have reached child bearing age, I think there's more to it. My department has had over 20 births in the past 2 years with more to come. I feel like I see pregnant women all the time. I have been meaning to do some research to see if there was truth in my observations and...

We are experiencing a boomlet (it is a boomlet because it is only a single digit increase instead of a double digit increase). According to a July story in USA Today, "A record number of babies were born in the USA in 2007, according to early federal data...The last time the number was this high was in 1957, in the middle of the baby boom years; about 78 million Americans were born from 1946 to 1964. Demographers have been monitoring gradual increases in recent years; data for 2006, which won't be made final until September, show a 3% increase over 2005. That's the largest single-year increase since 1989. The same report also showed births becoming more common in nearly every age and racial or ethnic group. Birth rates increased for women in their 20s, 30s and early 40s, not just teens. They rose for whites, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Alaska Natives. The rate for Asian women stayed about the same."

In my quick research, the rise in births has resulted in a growth in industries that provide products and services to children and their parents. We've seen that in all the cool new gadgets and doodads and maternity wear and gear. But, it triggers the Economics part of my brain and I wonder about scarcity and the increased competition for resources. Is there a way to time one's pregnancy such that their child is born in a "lull", where there is a better child to teacher ratio and my kid can easily be class president? "The boomlet will likely continue because the population of women in their childbearing years - between 15 and 44 - is expected to increase by 1 percent annually through 2040, Spar said." Those numbers could be affected by all kinds of things, the economy, immigration, laws, etc.

So, there's no way to "time" it, at least not before 2040. And there is something to be said about the country as a whole perhaps focusing for the first time in a long time on its children just because there are so many. The young vote has people focused on what young people think. This is just another reminder of what is at stake and how we need to create a better world for our children and raise them in such a way that they continue to make the world better for their children.