US hurtling toward population decline even as Americans say they want bigger families, new report warns
July 9, 2026
The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) is warning in a new report that the U.S. could be headed for population decline within the next few decades. Researchers say the looming demographic shift isn't because Americans no longer want families, and that, in fact, most people aspire to have more children than they actually have.
Americans still say they want to have roughly 2.4 children while actual fertility has fallen below 1.6 children per woman, one of the widest gaps between desired and actual family size in modern history. Lyman Stone, director of IFS' Pronatalism Initiative and co-author of the report,told Fox News Digital that the discrepancy is closely tied to family formation.
