Birth and death trends serve as a mirror of state and region’s migration and aging trends

The provisional birth and death numbers recently released by Michigan’s Department of Community Health show the effects of the demographic shifts taking place across the state and in Southeast Michigan.

While there are individual exceptions to each trend, the overall pattern that leads to a decrease in births is made up of three factors: out-migration of younger residents, contributing to decreasing numbers of women in their child-bearing years (15-44 years); aging of the population in general, contributing to both the loss of women and increasing numbers of deaths; and finally a move toward delaying marriage and childbirth, resulting in smaller families and often a choice of not having children at all.

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