
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 1, 1995                   TAG: 9508010078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BIRTH NUMBERS FALL AS BABY BOOMERS AGE

America's births fell below 4 million last year for the first time this decade as more daughters of baby boomers joined their mothers beyond the prime childbearing years. At the same time, deaths hit a record high.

Both trends represent natural changes as the nation's population ages, according to the Census Bureau's 1995 Population Profile of the United States, released Monday.

But that doesn't mean the population is in any danger of shrinking. ``We still have about 1.7 million more births than deaths, and we will for quite some time,'' said Carl Haub, a demographer at the private Population Reference Bureau.

The major factor in the decline in births is that there are fewer women of the main childbearing ages of 15 to 29, the Census report said.

The 3,949,000 births estimated for 1994 was 2.2 percent fewer than the year before and was the first time since 1988 that the number had been below 4 million.

Births had jumped as the sons and daughters of the post World War II baby boom generation entered their childbearing years and produced an echo effect. Now, many of those women are moving into the 30-to-44 age group, still of childbearing age but in that segment that is less likely to have babies, the Census study said.

The economy also is a factor in the decline, said Haub, who noted that births have been falling for the last three years in both the United States and Europe.

by CNB