The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that national fertility rates have been dropping at record levels.
Chronic disease epidemiologist Roxanne Archer with the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department explained how this relates to San Luis Obispo County.
“Our rates have been lower than the state and national average for as long as I’ve been able to find data and our rates have been declining but fairly slowly,” she said.
Fertility rates are based on the number of births per 1,000 females ages 15-44.
Archer says that San Luis Obispo County is at the mid to low 40s out of 1,000, with a slow decline since 2007.
National reports say that this could affect the number of young people to care for the aging population.
“That is likely to be the case here as well. Our population tends to skew towards 65 and older," Archer said. "I think statewide, somewhere around 20% of the population is 65 or older and here it’s about a quarter.”
Only 17% of the population falls under the age range of 0-17, making the young-to-elder population disproportionate.
According to Archer, women might be waiting longer to have babies. In the 2000s, women ages 25 to 29 were most likely to give birth, and now that's trending toward women between the ages of 30 to 35.
Archer believes this is due to general social changes and some women in the community believe so as well.
“I definitely see myself pursuing a career before having kids or starting a family, if that happens," said San Luis Obispo resident Maggie Chapman. "Also, the political climate is a big thing for me. If I don’t have access to health care and the women in my community don’t, why put myself in that position? ”
“I think the environment has a lot to do with it, too," said Santa Barbara County resident Lindsey Gove. "The food that we’re putting into our bodies, that can make a huge difference also.”
More data relating to birth rates and demographics in San Luis Obispo County can be foundhere.
The latest Santa Barbara County Birth Report, released in 2022, found that the birth and fertility rates in that county have actually been increasing since 2018. The fertility rate in 2021 was 57.7 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age.
