A sharp drop in the US fertility rate has Catholic experts urging a fresh look at marriage.
According to a new report from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, the national fertility rate hit a record low in 2024—just 53.8 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.
That’s a 1 per cent drop from the previous year and part of a 22 per cent decline since 2007.
The US now averages fewer than 1.6 children per woman. Catholic writer and family policy expert Leah Libresco Sargeant said the marriage decline is a key driver.
While fertility among married couples has dipped slightly, it remains far more stable than among unmarried women.
Libresco Sargeant thinks the Catholic Church should take an active role and connect young adults, going beyond wine and cheese singles nights and helping “shape deliberate dating with an eye to marriage.”
That sentiment was echoed by Brad Wilcox, who is a professor, a fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia.
The church also “should underline the ways in which Catholic teaching speaks to the challenges of our depopulating moment,” he added.
