Continuing Utah’s recent trend toward women giving birth to fewer babies will make the state richer and help its environment, according to a report by a group that advocates slowing population growth.
The Utah Population and Environment Council cheers that Utah’s fertility rate has dropped to 2.1 babies per woman in her lifetime, essentially the replacement rate needed to maintain the population without increasing it.
It says “slowing the pace of population growth in Utah — and moving toward stabilization and then a decreasing population — will offer unambiguous benefits from better air to more affordable housing to less crowded freeways and classrooms.