The coronavirus pandemic will likely lead to a “large, lasting baby bust,” according to a recent Brookings Institution report.
The report by the D.C.-based think tank surmised that the economic effects of the pandemic could lead to a decline in births of between 300,000 to 500,000 next year, based on data from the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic.
“When the public health crisis first took hold, some people playfully speculated that there would be a spike in births in nine months, as people were ‘stuck home’ with their romantic partners,” the report’s authors wrote. “But the COVID-19 crisis is amounting to more than a temporary stay-at-home order. It is leading to tremendous economic loss, uncertainty and insecurity. That is why birth rates will tumble.”
