VOA慢速英语2021 美国2020年出生率降至40年来最低水平（在线收听）

U.S. health officials say the nation's birth rate in 2020 fell to its lowest level in more than 40 years.

美国卫生官员表示，该国2020年出生率降至40多年来的最低水平。

The rate fell 4 percent in 2020 to about 3.6 million babies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a new report. That is the lowest number of U.S. births since 1979.

美国疾病控制与预防中心(以下简称美国疾控中心)在一份新报告中称，2020年美国出生率下降了4%，出生了大约360万婴儿。这是1979年以来美国出生人口最低的一次。

The CDC said it was the sixth year in a row that the U.S. saw a decrease in births after the last increase in 2014. The rate has dropped an average of 2 percent per year since 2015.

美国疾控中心表示，这是美国出生率在2014年最后一次增长后，连续6年出现下滑。自2015年以来，美国出生率平均每年下降了2%。

The birth rate dropped for women in every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group.

每个主要种族，以及几乎每个年龄段妇女当中的出生率都有所下降。

The CDC said the U.S. fertility rate -- which measures the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 -- declined by 4 percent in 2020.

美国疾控中心表示，2020年美国的一般生育率下降了4%，一般生育率用于衡量每1000名15到44岁育龄妇女中的生育数量。

U.S. births have been decreasing in younger women for many years, as many mothers started families later and had smaller families. Birth rates for women in their late 30s and in their 40s have slowly been increasing. But last year was different.

美国年轻女性当中的出生率多年来一直都在下降，因为很多妈妈结婚晚，并且家庭人口少。奔四和四十多岁女性当中的出生率一直在缓慢增长。但是去年有所不同。

The CDC's Brady Hamilton was the lead writer of the report. He said one of the most surprising results was the decrease in births even for older mothers.

美国疾控中心的布雷迪·汉密尔顿是这篇报告的主要作者。他说，最令人惊讶的结果之一是年纪较大的妈妈当中的出生率也在下降。

The CDC report was based on an examination of more than 99 percent of official birth records issued last year. The Associated Press found that births had fallen during the coronavirus pandemic by looking at 2020 data from 25 states.

美国疾控中心的报告是基于对去年发布的99%以上官方出生记录的核查。美联社查看了25个州在2020年的数据后发现，新冠病毒大流行期间的出生人数有所下降。

Experts say the pandemic was one likely cause of the drop in U.S. birth rates. Fears about COVID-19 and its effects on the economy may have caused many couples to rethink having a child.

专家表示，大流行可能是导致美国出生率下降的原因之一。对新冠病毒及其经济影响的担忧可能会让许多夫妇重新考虑生育。

Many of the 2020 pregnancies, however, began well before the coronavirus pandemic. Hamilton said CDC researchers are working on a second report to explain the decrease.

但是2020年的许多孕妇是在新冠病毒大流行之前怀上的。汉密尔顿表示，美国疾控中心的研究人员正在致力于第二份报告，以解释出生率降低的原因。

Lorna Thorpe is the director of epidemiology at the Department of Population Health at New York University's Langone Hospital. She told Reuters that the latest birth rate drop was in keeping with the downward trend seen in recent years. But she added that the change in 2020 was also linked to "pandemic-related reductions."

洛娜·索普是纽约大学朗格尼医院人口健康部门的流行病学主任。她对路透社表示，这次出生率下降跟最近几年的下降趋势保持了一致。但她还说，2020年的变化还跟大流行相关的缩减有关。

Experts say the current generation in America is getting further away from having enough children to replace itself.

专家表示，美国这一代人正在逐渐老去，没有足够多儿童来完成人口更替。

Many European countries have also been experiencing birth rate drops and population experts have predicted major decreases in babies born across the continent this year.

许多欧洲国家的出生率也在下降，人口专家已经预测今年欧洲大陆婴儿出生率的大幅下降。

In Italy, births fell 22 percent in December 2020, nine months after the country went into Europe's first lockdown restrictions. Some large corporations, including Reckitt, Nestle and Danone, say lower birth rates also led to big sales drops in baby formula.

2020年12月，在意大利进入欧洲首次封锁禁令的9个月之后，该国出生率下降了22%。包括利洁时、雀巢和达能在内的一些大型公司表示，出生率下降也导致婴儿配方奶粉销售的大幅下降。

I'm Dan Friedell.

我是丹·弗里德尔。