In 2015, there were 2.29 births for each Utah woman from age 15 to 44, down from a peak of 2.68 in 2007. That's a 14 percent drop.
"We're actually not seeing a huge delay in marriage among the LDS community" specifically, said Samuel Sturgeon, president of demography firm Demographic Intelligence, during a panel discussion about the findings Thursday at the Thomas S. Monson Center. "(But) we are seeing a pretty big delay in the age (LDS women) have their first child."
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900 ... ilies.html
Julian is among a growing number of Utah women who start a family later than their mothers and have fewer kids, shows a new analysis from the University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
"We were choosing to wait. And it was for sure the best option," she said. "I got to experience so much of the world, and I don’t have any regrets." The duo trekked to Thailand, Egypt and Kenya before they wed, pausing their travels as she earned a graduate social work degree and he started a marketing firm.
The rate of Utah women having babies in their 20s — most especially in their early 20s — has also declined since 2003. The number of women giving birth in their late 30s or 40s have slightly increased since that time.
"It appears that the peak age for a woman having her first child has shifted into the late 20s, instead of the early 20s," states the new institute analysis.
Perlich told the panel audience that "where we've seen our largest decline in fertility rates are among women 20 to 24."
"People are definitely waiting beyond 24 and that's been a pretty rapid change," she said.
It’s as if Utahns are learning to make decisions for themselves, a surely troubling trend for some...