by Whitney Barthel posted in Life

According to new data from the CDC, the United States' birthrate has hit another historic low. While the rate of babies born to mothers in their forties has doubled since 1990, teen pregnancies have been cut in half -- which can be seen as both good and bad.
My fourth son, Charlie, and me.
It?s good because, I mean, it?s teen pregnancy. However, some experts now worry that the decrease in pregnant teens and women in their early twenties could pose a major problem -- our country?s birthrate falling below the "replacement level."

For most countries, the average replacement level is 2.1 babies born per woman. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated the U.S. birthrate last year at 1.87. And while some experts feel that the declining birthrate is nothing to be concerned about, others are saying we are on the verge of a ?national emergency.?
Some specialists are concerned there eventually will not be enough people -- or resources -- to take care our aging population.

Me" I see both sides. While it seems natural for population to ebb and flow, I also see the dying out of small Midwestern towns, like the one I grew up in.
Since 1980, my small hometown's population has decreased by more than 22 percent. And while I know part of this is the result of the millennial generation being lured by big-city life, leaving never to return, most of it is probably because the average family size has dramatically decreased in ...