A dwindling national birth rate could have particularly dire consequences here in Illinois, reports an online political think tank.
“If that’s a problem nationally, then it’s a full-on crisis in Illinois,” Wirepoints recently posted. “According to separate U.S. Census Bureau data, Illinois’ birth rate has fallen faster than the national average since the turn of the century. And that’s a real issue given the state’s massive pension debts and its declining population.”
The Centers for Disease Control reports that the number of U.S. childbirths dropped to a 32-year low in 2018, thus continuing a trend that has seen births dip in 10 of the last 11 years. In Illinois, the problem is exacerbated by the steady exodus of millennials causing the state's overall population to drop in each of the last five years. Since 2001, Illinois childbirths have also declined by 20 percent, dropping the state’s rate of births per 1,000 residents from 12th in the country all the way down to 30th.
All of the outmigration has come about as Moody’s Investment reports the state’s pension debt has ballooned to more than $420 billion in public-sector liability alone, leaving households across the state on the hook for an average of $110,000 each in state debt.
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