Report: U.S. Population on Track to Shrink by 2054
July 19, 2026
The U.S. population is already close to peaking and will begin to shrink in less than 25 years unless urgent action is taken to reverse the country’s rapidly collapsing birth rate, according to a newly released in-depth demographic study.
On Tuesday, the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) released a thorough analysis of fertility data stretching back to the 1800s, finding that the U.S.’s current record low birth rate of 1.6 children per woman has caused the country to enter “its third historic period of extended below-replacement-rate fertility.” “Importantly,” the report emphasizes, “this current period of decline is already longer than previous declines, has fallen to lower lows, and is more widely shared around the country.”
