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The Fertility Rate Gap is Closing

Using the CDC’s annual report on births and figures from Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services, UNO’s Center for Public Affairs Research recently released a report on fertility rates in Nebraska.

David Drozd, Researcher Coordinator at CPAR, says the main finding was that fertility rates are not as different by race and ethnicity as they used to be in the past. 

He says it’s the lowest difference in fertility rates between the races in 25 years of available data. 

Drozd says in Nebraska, Hispanic fertility rates are lower and that fertility rates among Blacks are actually higher.

"This would indicate a slower level of growth in the Hispanic Latino community and that’s been the main source of our population growth in the last decade or two.  And as we look at things like changes within schools and health care, these declines in fertility will have an impact.”

Drozd says even if the decline in Hispanic births is temporary, it will take years for fertility rates to climb toward pre-recession levels. 

He says fertility rates in Nebraska are high compared to the US and most other states.