Butler County sees increase in birth rates over past year, despite national baby bust
Although Tylor and Jason Takacs were already expecting their firstborn when COVID-19 made its United States debut in early 2020, the Cranberry Township couple said the pandemic wouldn't have discouraged their family planning.
Tylor, 24, and Jason, 25, welcomed their son, Elias Graham Takacs, on Sept. 17, a short time after Jason graduated from Chatham University's Physician Assistant Studies program and several months before Tylor would secure her “dream job” as a teacher at Mars Area School District.
“If we waited for the perfect time, we said we would never have kids,” Tylor said. “When we started trying in December (2019), we felt like it was the perfect time without being a perfect time.”
She became pregnant right away, leading Elias to become one of Butler County's “pandemic babies.”
Births by the numbers
Preliminary data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health shows the number of births in Butler County slightly increased from 1,618 to 1,677 between 2019 and 2020, breaking from the national and statewide data that showed baby busts.
According to the Center for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), the provisional number of births across the United States plummeted 4% between 2019 and 2020. The report released in May 2021 shows a drop of 3,747,540 to 3,605,201 births over the year.
The report indicates births have declined by an average of 2% for six consecutive years.
This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Tuesday's Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.
