We Are Heading Down a Demographic One-Way Street
July 22, 2026
The institute for Family Studies recently released its 2026 report highlighting the decline of American fertility and how the lack of children will dramatically affect our nation, and the world, in the years ahead.
Surveying more than 4,700 adults, the report finds that historical data show that the United States is now in its third historic period of extended below-replacement-rate fertility. It is currently at 1.6 children per woman, even though most families desire to have two or more children. The authors of the report, Lyman Stone and Peter Foreshaw Brookes, write that if fertility rates continue their recent decline, the U.S. population will peak at about 351 million and begin declining in the 2050s.
