990 - Is There a Fertility Crisis?
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
About this episode:
The U.S. marked its lowest birth rate on record in 2024 with American women having—on average—1.6 children. Does this mean that the country has a fertility crisis? In this episode: Associate professor of Population, Family and Reproductive Health Linnea Zimmerman discusses how to measure fertility, assess trends in birth rates in the U.S. and worldwide, and think about the interaction between individual decisions and social needs.
Guests:
Linnea Zimmerman, PhD, MPH, is an associate professor of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Host:
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:
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Births: Provisional Data for 2024—Vital Statistics Rapid Release
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U.S. birth rate hits all-time low, CDC data shows—CBS News
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhhhu.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.6 | Hey listeners, it's Lindsay Smith-Rogers. |
| 0:34.4 | Today, is there a fertility crisis in the U.S. and around the globe? Dr. Linnea Zimmerman is an |
| 0:40.4 | associate professor in the Department of Population Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns |
| 0:44.6 | Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She joins Dr. Josh Sharfstein to talk about the global |
| 0:49.6 | picture as well as the family level view of fertility in 2025. |
| 0:55.1 | Let's listen. |
| 1:01.7 | Dr. Linnea Zimmerman, thank you so much for coming to public health on call to talk with me about fertility rates. |
| 1:03.0 | I'm happy to be here. |
| 1:04.4 | Before we jump in, could you explain a little bit about your background and your academic |
| 1:10.6 | interest? |
| 1:11.4 | Absolutely. |
| 1:12.1 | So from an academic perspective, I'm an associate professor in the Department of Population, |
| 1:17.3 | family, and reproductive health. |
| 1:19.0 | I study fertility. |
| 1:20.5 | And I have had historically a particular interest in studying contraceptive use and access to |
| 1:25.9 | contraception. |
| 1:26.9 | So I've been reading a lot about fertility rates in the news. |
| 1:30.2 | There are a lot of opinions out there, but I want to start with some basic facts. |
... |
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