America is hurtling toward a population crisis as the ‘silver tsunami’ of aging residents threatens to outnumber the shrinking working-age population.
Over the past two decades, the US fertility rate has dropped dramatically — a shift Elon Musk has warned is ‘the greatest risk to the future of civilization.’
The trend has now tipped into outright decline, with deaths outpacing births in 21 states, from Pennsylvania, Maine and New Hampshire to Florida, Kentucky, and New Mexico.
Experts blame the downturn largely on soaring costs of raising a family, along with shifting priorities as more Americans, especially millennials, prioritize career, independence and lifestyle over parenthood.
An analysis of CDC data shows just over 3.6million babies were born in the US in 2024, amounting to a fertility rate of 1.6 births per woman — far below the 2.1 needed to sustain the population.
Vermont topped the charts as the state with the lowest fertility rate in 2025, at 42.1 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age — which is set at 15 to 44 years. It was followed by Rhode Island with a rate of 45.2 and Oregon at 45.9.
Vice President JD Vance once mocked the growing number of young women embracing a ‘childless cat lady’ life — and now rising vasectomy rates suggest many men are also opting out of fatherhood.
Wilmarie Hernandez, 37, a consultant who also coaches women on going child-free, said she chose travel, freedom and romance over diapers and daycare.
Wilmarie Hernandez (pictured), 37, a consultant who also coaches women who want to live ‘child-free’, told the Daily Mail she chose a life of travel and romance over raising children
‘I have always known that I didn’t want to have children,’ Hernandez, who lives in Washington DC with her husband, told the Daily Mail.
‘Seeing women being depleted, overworked, and not fully supported in their role as mothers in the US — it didn’t look like something I wanted in my life.
‘I saw women abandoning themselves and their dreams just to raise children, and because it’s something they felt like they had to do.
‘I really wanted to travel, I wanted to enjoy a romantic life.’
She added that the cost of raising a child in the US – estimated as being more than $250,000 over a child’s lifetime — cemented her decision.
Hernandez said most of her relatives ‘didn’t agree’ with her decision not to have children.
‘They would tell me “you’ll change your mind one day,” but I never did,’ she said.
Hernandez said though that her partner of 11 years shares her worldview.
‘When I met my husband, I was open about not wanting to have any children,’ she said.
‘He said the same, and we connected over that mutual feeling. Four years ago, he got a vasectomy.’
‘Seeing women being depleted, overworked, and not fully supported in their role as mothers in the US — it didn’t look like something I wanted in my life,’ said Hernandez (pictured)
Israa Nasir, 37, told the Daily Mail many of her relatives don’t understand her decision to live child-free, and the pressure was heightened due to her South Asian background
New York City-based therapist and author Israa Nasir, 37, also said that she ‘never felt called to motherhood.’
‘Even as a kid, I didn’t imagine myself becoming a parent one day and that never really changed,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘As I got older and understood more about what parenting actually looks like, I realized it didn’t align with the kind of life I saw for myself.’
Nasir added that many of her relatives don’t understand her decision to live child-free, and the pressure was heightened due to her background.
‘Culturally, it’s definitely not the norm, especially in South Asian communities,’ she said.
‘It’s only recently that I’ve started to hear more South Asian women talking about it openly, and I know a lot of people still don’t feel safe having that conversation with their families.’
‘I think my parents have accepted my decision, but I wouldn’t say they support it, at least not in a way that feels fully embraced,’ Nasir said.
‘They have fears about the strength of my marriage, or they fear about who will care for me when I’m older.’
Rising vasectomy rates among young patients indicate that more men are also choosing to go child-free too. Nebraska-based engineer TJ Turner (pictured) underwent the procedure at 28
Turner (pictured) is among the growing number of American men who made the life-changing decision to get a vasectomy in his youth. He was 28 when he underwent the procedure
And it’s not just women opting not to have children.
Data from the Cleveland Clinic indicates a more than 30 percent increase in vasectomy requests and a more than 20 percent increase in the procedure.
The procedure involves cutting and sealing the vas deferens, the tubes that carry sperm from the testicles. This prevents pregnancy by stopping sperm from mixing with semen during ejaculation.
Nebraska-based engineer TJ Turner is among the growing number of American men who made the life-changing decision to get a vasectomy in his youth.
Turner, who is originally from Yankton, South Dakota, said he underwent the procedure when he was 28, and 10 years later, he has no regrets.
‘I have a million reasons why I don’t want kids,’ he told the Daily Mail, speaking from his home in Omaha.
‘The current state of the economy, I value my own personal freedom, I like to focus on my health, I like to be able pretty much any time I want to be able to hop on my motorcycle and ride, I want to focus on my career.
‘I just want to focus on myself, mainly. My mental health also plays a role. I have enough issues with mental health as it is, and I don’t need a kid making that worse.’
‘My wife and my friends were very supportive of my decision,’ he added. ‘It’s my body and I can do with it what I want.’
Elon Musk (pictured in the Oval Office) — who has 14 children with four women — has for years warned about population collapse caused by baby bust in America and the West
CDC data shows there has been a decline in fertility figures across all 50 states between 2005 and 2023, and the decline for the US as a whole was a staggering 18.4 percent, according to market research company Lending Tree.
Utah topped the charts for the largest decline in the fertility rate, at 35.8 percent, followed by Arizona with 32.8 percent and Nevada at 31.3 percent.
Deaths already outnumber births in 21 states — Pennsylvania, Florida, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Oregon, Kentucky, Alabama, Delaware, South Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, New Hampshire, Arkansas, New Mexico, Vermont, Wisconsin, Montana and Rhode Island.
In the US in 2005, there were 66.7 births per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44. By 2023, that number had dropped to 54.4.
A study in the Lancet earlier this year warned this could have ‘immense’ consequences, with public services and economic growth at risk.
The researchers said America faces an ‘underpopulation’ crisis by 2050, a situation in which there are too few people to realize the economic potential of an area or support its population’s standard of living.
Personal finance expert Kimberly Palmer told the Daily Mail that the financial burden of having children is the main reason Americans are having fewer kids
The only way to stabilize the population is for women to have more babies or for more immigrants to come into the country.
Elon Musk — who has 14 children with four women — has for years warned about population collapse caused by baby bust in America and the West.
Musk, who boasts of ‘always banging the baby drum,’ has been sounding the alarm on worldwide population collapse for years, claiming it will be ‘the biggest problem the world will face in 20 years.’
The billionaire-turned-politician previously said that low birth rates result in fewer workers, increased debt, strained healthcare and pension systems, and total social unrest.
