Not So Explosive

THE FAMILY

While the rest of the world frets over the population explosion, the most recent statistics issued by the U.S. Public Health Service show that the U.S. birth rate is in a decline. The general fertility rate -- the number of births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44 --was down to 104.0 v. 107.2 for the previous March. Furthermore, this drop continues a two-year trend. Only 337,000 live births were recorded in the month of March -- 6,000 fewer than last year and the smallest total number for the month since 1955.

The Health Service was frankly baffled, pointing out that "the age composition of the female population, with increasing numbers of women entering the childbearing ages, is favorable to a higher level of fertility." Unofficial guessers attributed the decline to World War II (girls born in the 1946 baby boom are only now approaching the commonest marrying age) and the introduction of oral contraceptives.

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