Atlanta: Going against the trend in many other wealthy industrialised nations, the United States seems to be experiencing a small baby boom, reporting the largest number of children born in 45 years.

The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all US births. But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too.

An Associated Press review of birth numbers dating to 1909 found the total number of US births was the highest since 1961,near the end of the baby boom. An examination of global data also shows that the United States has a higher fertility rate - the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime - than every country in continental Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan. Fertility levels in those countries have been lower than the US rate for several years, although some are on the rise, most notably in France.
Experts believe there is a mix of reasons: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to abortion, poor education and poverty.

There are cultural reasons as well. Hispanics as a group have higher fertility rates - about 40 per cent higher than the US overall. The high rate probably reflects cultural attitudes toward childbirth developed in other countries, experts said. Fertility rates average 2.7 in Central America and 2.4 in South America.

And experts say Americans, especially those in middle America, view children more favorably than people in many other Westernised countries.

Source : PTI