Census reveals plummeting U.S. birthrates

By Haya El Nasser and Paul Overberg
USA TODAY
posted June 7, 2011

Excerpt:
Children, the mainstay of suburbia and residential neighborhoods across the nation for more than a half-century, are fewer and increasingly sparse in many places.

The share of the population under age 18 dropped in 95% of U.S. counties since 2000, according to a USA TODAY analysis of the 2010 Census.

The number of households that have children under age 18 has stayed at 38 million since 2000, despite a 9.7% growth in the U.S. population. As a result, the share of households with children dropped from 36% in 2000 to 33.5%.

There are now more households with dogs (43 million) than children.
the rest