The U.S. population has reached a record-high median age, according to Census Bureau data released Thursday.
Americans’ median age hit 38.9 in 2022 as the country faces a rapidly aging population resulting from declining birth rates, The New York Times reported. The median U.S. age has steadily risen from 30 in 1980 to 35 in 2000 to nearly 39 in 2022.
“It’s simple arithmetic. Fewer kids are being born,” said Andrew A. Beveridge, the president of demographic data firm Social Explorer.
States with the oldest median age are Maine (44.8) and New Hampshire (43.3) while the youngest states are Utah (31.9), the District of Columbia (34.8), and Texas (35.5). Utah, whose large population of Mormons encourages adherents to raise large families, has one of the highest fertility rates in the U.S., according to CDC data. Maine’s fertility rate of 49.9 births per 1,000 women falls far behind Utah at 63.6.
The Times also reported that communities with a larger population of black Americans — such as D.C. and Kaufman County, Texas, a suburb of Dallas — are staying relatively young compared to the rest of the U.S. The median ages in both D.C. and Kaufman County were under 35 years old.
The U.S. is following the trends of aging populations and declining birth rates that are alarming European and Asian countries. Europe’s median age has increased to 44, and Japan’s median age hit 48 years old, making it the oldest country in the world. Meanwhile, dozens of African nations are retaining a median age under 20.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP
Birth rates in the U.S. fell during the first year of the COVID pandemic before going up and then slightly declining again from 2021 to 2022. According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provisional report published earlier this month, there was a less than 1% decline in total births from 2021 to 2022, decreasing from 3,664,292 babies in 2021 to 3,661,220 in 2022.
Many American families are delaying having children if they choose to have any at all. The CDC report charted a continued rise in births from women in their early 40s and late 30s as well as a continued decline in teen births, which have dropped a staggering 80% since 1991. Births among women aged 40-44 have not decreased since 1981, with 2020 being an exception.
Nathan Gay contributed to this report.