# Is there a baby boom going on? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 24, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912 "2011-08-24T16:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/1 "2011-08-24T16:51:15Z")
I’m 2/3 finished with my 3-week trip through southern France, and I’ve never seen so many babies. Every place I look, couples are walking around with babies, ranging from infants to about a year or so, then tapering off with older ones. And strangely, these are virtually all straight caucasians. Only one couple-of-color with a baby and one male couple. And the couples seem to be from all over the place, not just French. So what’s going on? Has there been a shortage of birth-control pills? A large batch of leaking condoms? A state of war with Muslim immigrants? Is the Cote d’Azur a cure for post-partum depression? What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/2 "2011-08-24T17:49:52Z")
I’m pretty sure this is just a coincidence or sample bias. Isn’t Southern France a pretty popular tourist destination anyway? It’s not surprising if a lot of couples with newborns are visiting. [The birth rate in France has been going down for a couple of years](http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=25&c=fr&l=en) and in the U.S., [the birth rate decreased a bit when the economy was cratering](http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=25&c=us&l=en). It hasn’t changed much since then. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/3 "2011-08-24T18:12:45Z")
The thing is, I’m not seeing many couples with kids older than about 2 through pre-teens. Then I’m seeing lots of teens with each other, not their parents. But the number of babies is way more than I’d expect, and most of them seem to be around 6 months-one year. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/4 "2011-08-24T18:21:38Z")
For what it’s worth, there was a mini baby boom in the US that peaked in 2008: [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-16-baby-boomlet\_N.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-16-baby-boomlet_N.htm) However, the birth rate dropped dropped strongly since then, perhaps because of the bad economy. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/5 "2011-08-24T18:33:26Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > For what it’s worth, there was a mini baby boom in the US that peaked in 2008: Huh. I can name 5 babies that were born at the tail end of 2007. When I was on vacation back in May, I noticed that almost half of the women in that town were pregnant. I wonder if they were having a convention. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Conquistador](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f04885/32.png) [@El\_Conquistador](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Conquistador)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/6 "2011-08-24T18:43:38Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m seeing lots of teens with each other, not their parents. If you are seeing that, there may indeed be a baby boom coming! ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/7 "2011-08-24T18:57:42Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And strangely, these are virtually all straight caucasians. Only one couple-of-color with a baby and one male couple. And the couples seem to be from all over the place, not just French. > > So what’s going on? Has there been a shortage of birth-control pills? A large batch of leaking condoms? A state of war with Muslim immigrants? Is the Cote d’Azur a cure for post-partum depression? What gives? All those straight caucasian couples had their August-in-France trip planned out years ago and then the economy went to shit and they stayed home and had the babies anyway and then said “Shit!, we are still going to go!” “Get that little fucker a passport!” ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-baby-boom-going-on/593912/8 "2011-08-25T02:10:34Z")
This week at work we had 31 patients on the floor. 10 were pregnant with twins and one with triplets. That’s a lot of multiples!