Kansas is in the midst of a baby bust. Numbers released in May by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment tell the plain story: In 2022, there were 34,476 live births – a slight decrease from 34,697 births the year before, but a huge drop from the nearly 42,000 new Kansans born in 2008 amidst the Great Recession. Put it in a different context – there were just 11.7 new babies born for every 1,000 Kansans in 2022. That is a historically low number. “This is the lowest birth rate for Kansas residents since the state created a centralized vital records system in 1911,” KDHE said. Talk to demographers and you’ll hear myriad reasons explaining the bust. They’ll also tell you it’s not just a Kansas thing: Birth rates have been falling across the country for more than a decade. “I think one of the things that’s apparent from that research is there’s no single explanation,” says Sarah Hayford, a sociologist at Ohio State University who studies family formation and reproductive health and has been tracking the national decline. But observers say that other demographic shifts – young Kansans moving away from rural areas to cities, suburbs and very often out of state – have exacerbated the drop in births here.
Source: KLC Journal
