# What are fertility rate statistics in the US

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-fertility-rate-statistics-in-the-us/521500>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 16, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-fertility-rate-statistics-in-the-us/521500 "2009-12-16T18:23:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-fertility-rate-statistics-in-the-us/521500/1 "2009-12-16T18:23:54Z")

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The total fertility rate in the US is about 2.1, so about 2.1 children born per woman. However I can’t find out if that means ‘most’ families have 2 children or if there are tons of people with 0 children and tons more with 4 children. Its a generic calculation and I don’t know if that means we live in a country where most everyone has 2 kids, or if there are tens of millions of families with 4 kids and other families with 0 kids evening each other out.

So are there statistics broken down by age and number of children instead of a generic total fertility rate? ie, statistics that say at a certain age (20, 40, 50, etc) x% of men or women have 0 children, y% have 1, z% have 2, a% have 3, etc?

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**Author:** ![The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Urban_Spaceman)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-fertility-rate-statistics-in-the-us/521500/2 "2009-12-16T20:41:45Z")

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[Births: preliminary data for 2006 (.pdf)](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/includes/teen_births_2006.pdf)

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-fertility-rate-statistics-in-the-us/521500/3 "2009-12-16T22:33:19Z")

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Watch “Idiocracy.” It’s kinda like that.

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**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-fertility-rate-statistics-in-the-us/521500/4 "2009-12-16T22:41:05Z")

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This is GQ, not Cafe Society.

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**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-fertility-rate-statistics-in-the-us/521500/5 "2009-12-17T18:24:00Z")

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I think that [this](http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p20-558.pdf) report from the Census Bureau has the sort of thing you’re looking for. Look at Table 1. For women aged 40-44 (i.e., women who are mostly done having kids, yes, I know there are exceptions), 20% have 0 children, 17% have one child, 34% have two, 19% have three, 6% have four, and 4% have five or more. (Just to clarify, this is births, not children that they’ve raised.) There is some variation, but two children is a very common option.