Latest Birth rates News
Alabama birthing units are closing to save money and get funding. Some say babies are at risk
GROVE HILL, Ala. (AP) — One of the last remaining birthing units in southern Alabama will close next month to qualify for federal funding that will save the hospital’s emergency services, but doctors warn the move may cost newborns and pregnant women essential access to obstetric care. ...
World population is projected to grow from 8.2 billion to a peak of 10.3 billion in 2080s, UN says
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The world’s population is expected to grow by more than 2 billion people in the next decades and peak in the 2080s at around 10.3 billion, a major shift from a decade ago, a new report by the United Nations said Thursday. The report — released on World...
Harrisburg, Tea, Box Elder lead booming South Dakota cities
HARRISBURG, S.D. (AP) — This bedroom community just south of Sioux Falls transformed over the past couple of decades into the fastest-growing South Dakota city of more than 5,000 people, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau and Population Division report. Harrisburg’s...
Money-making L.A. hospitals quit delivering babies. Inside the fight to keep one labor ward open.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Detranay Blankenship was 16 weeks pregnant when she found out she was expecting. The days passed quickly, and soon she was 7 centimeters dilated at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. The 26-year-old first-time mom wasn’t sure what to expect during...
Japan's birth rate falls to a record low as the number of marriages also drops
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s birth rate fell to a new low for the eighth straight year in 2023, according to Health Ministry data released on Wednesday. A government official described the situation as critical and urged authorities to do everything they can to reverse the trend. The...
Pope urges Italians to have babies as a measure of hope for future
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis pressed his campaign Friday to urge Italians to have children, calling for long-term policies to help families and warning that the country’s demographic crisis was threatening the future. “The number of births is the first indicator of the hope of a...
California's population grew in 2023, halting 3 years of decline, state estimates
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The nation's most populous state is growing again, ending a trend of population decline that had dogged Gov. Gavin Newsom through much of his tenure. California gained just over 67,000 people last year, the first increase since 2019, according to an...
