Children are Priceless, Raising Them Is Not

Time Magazine reports on a recent birth rate study detailing a 2 percent drop in 2008 of  U.S. birth rates, apparently the biggest drop in four decades.  Why?  Kids aren’t cheap and the economy has proven to be an effective contraceptive.

Nancy Gibbs at Time reports:

…a typical family will spend about $221,000 raising a child through age 17; that’s 21% more than families spent the year I was born. Food and clothing are cheaper now, but housing and health care cost more. Turns out parents get a bulk discount: people with only one child spend 25% more per child than families with two, and by the time you have three or more, you are spending 22% less on each one.

And that’s not including college!

Researchers at the Guttmacher Institute found that because of current economic concerns, nearly half of women surveyed want to delay pregnancy or limit the number of children they have—and for about half of these women, the recession has heightened the focus on effective contraceptive use.

More Services