Birth rate declines in US

NEW YORK: The number of births in the United States has declined after reaching all-time high in 2007, according to the report of federal government.

Data from National Center for Health Statistics show that births fell by 4 percent between 2007 and 2009. The researchers noted that a preliminary count of births through June 2010 indicates continuing declines.

The drop in the birth rate was described in the report as "notable, but not truly of historic proportions" compared with the declines in the early 20th century and in the 1960s and early 1970s.