Everyone understands that the economic downturn has led to a decrease in family expenditures, but has it led to a decrease in families as well? According to the National Center for Health Statistics, American births fell to around 4 million last year, the lowest they've been in 11 years.
The Department of Agriculture estimates that it costs an average of $226,920 to raise a child to the age of 17. So it's no wonder people would put off having children till they feel a bit more financially secure. One ramification of this demographic slowdown, though, is that it's going to make a housing recovery all that much harder to come by. If people's families aren't growing, there's less incentive to buy a bigger house.
Other data bears out that hypothesis. The Census Bureau announced that the number of Americans who moved last year hit a historic low - the lowest the figure has been since they started tracking this number, back in 1948. Only 11.6 percent of all Americans found a new residence between 2010 and 2011. As recently as 1985, the number was nearly double that, at 20.2 percent.
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