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The birth rate is plunging. Why some say that’s a good thing.

The political class is worried about the historic drop. But the biggest change is among the youngest women, who are the least ready to have children.

(Lindsay D'Addato | The New York Times) Rose Paz, 22, the oldest of three children, whose mother had her when she was 16, in Salt Lake City, Feb. 16, 2026. Women in their early 20s from less than privileged backgrounds, once among the most likely to have children, are now waiting, and have become a key contributor to the country’s declining birthrate.