How fracking leads to babies: Huge surge in births among families who earn a lucrative income drilling sites

  • Despite a dip in fertility rates, there's been an uptick in births near fracking sites
  • Economists at the University of Maryland equate this to a boost in incomes
  • Couples, they say, feel free to support a child - but do not feel the need to wed
  • The finding is an anomaly in the US as the fertility rate drops, with more women postponing motherhood until their late 30s and 40s to focus on their career 

By MIA DE GRAAF FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: | Updated:

America's fracking boom may have driven a surge in pregnancies, a new study claims. 

Despite a decrease in overall fertility rates, there has been an uptick in births among families working on lucrative fracking sites, according to economists at the University of Maryland.

For every extra $1,000 earned by a fracking site, there were six more births per 1,000 women.  

The finding comes on the heels of a major CDC report on fertility rates, which revealed a drop in the number of births overall, as most women postpone motherhood until their late 30s or 40s. 

Despite a decrease in overall fertility rates, there has been an uptick in births among families working on lucrative fracking sites, according to economists at the University of Maryland

Despite a decrease in overall fertility rates, there has been an uptick in births among families working on lucrative fracking sites, according to economists at the University of Maryland

In these rural pockets of Texas, Oklahoma, California and Pennsylvania, families connected to fracking are reproducing at a rate that far exceeds the national average.

The report's authors, Melissa Kearney and Riley Wilson, say this most likely reflects a feeling of financial security, giving families - particularly those of lower-income background and low education - the confidence and freedom to support a child if they wish.  

'We confirm that these localized fracking booms led to increased wages for non-college-educated men,' Kearney and Wilson concluded.    

Intriguingly, they found, this baby boom has not triggered a marriage boom. 

Today's parents, they said, are content with parenting children outside of marriage, as long as they have the coffers to support them. 

Demographers say this reluctance to marry, and increasing financial literacy across the country, could be a contributor to the drop in teen birth rates - though the CDC says the biggest factor is more widespread use of effective contraception. 

Last week, the annual report by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics on 2016 birth data showed the birth rate among teen girls has dropped 67 percent since 1991, which equates to a 51 percent drop since 2007. 

Meanwhile, the birth rate increased among older mothers and dropped among 20-somethings.

The rate of mothers aged between 35 and 39 reached its highest point since 1962, inching up 2 percent since 2015. Those aged 40 to 44 saw a huge increase of 4 percent over the same time period.

Some demographers warn this increase does not make up for the drop in births overall, posing the question of a potential 'baby crisis'.

But in the grand scheme of things this is nothing to worry about, according to Donna M Strobino, a professor of population, family and reproductive health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomsberg School of Public Health.

'What this is is a trend of women becoming more educated and more mature. I'm not sure that's bad,' she told the Washington Post. 

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