| ■ U.S. Set Birth Record Last Year | 2008.07.23 |
| There were more births in the United States last year than at any time in the nation's history, according to a National Center for Health Statistics report cited by the Associated Press. Some 4,315,000 babies were born in 2007, agency demographer Stephanie Ventura said. While that amounts to roughly 15,000 more births than during the peak baby-boom year of 1957, Ventura discounted the notion of a new baby boom. She noted that there were far fewer women of childbearing age 50 years ago. "What this really reflects is that the population has grown so much in the United States, so you naturally expect more births," she said. "It's hard to call this a baby boom at this point." |