PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Declines in births has been a nationwide issue for well over a decade.
Here in Wisconsin, a recent study from Forward Analytics shows the number of children dropped more than 9% from 2000 through 2024.
“The challenge here is we just have not seen signs that it’s going to turn around,” said Dale Knapp, director of Forward Analytics.
In 2023, there were 59,719 births in Wisconsin — the lowest number since 1941.
Compounding Wisconsin’s young population issue is the fact that since 2017, Wisconsin has the fifth lowest rate of people moving to the state from another area.
This trend has an impact on public education enrollment, including the Universities of Wisconsin.
“They’re, again, just on the cusp of this big challenge for them,” said Knapp. “The good thing is that they know what’s coming and they’re going to be able to figure out how to deal with that over the next decade or more.”
The Universities of Wisconsin system has seen enrollment increases the last two years. However, prior to that, the last time there was growth was back in 2014.
More out-of-state students has played a role in recent growth, and UW officials believe other strategies they’ve implemented have helped as well — such as direct admit or dual enrollment for high schoolers.
“We need the nurses and the teachers and the data scientists and the engineers and the business people coming out of our universities,” said Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman.
Fewer children now could mean less workers to support the state’s job market down the road.
“The great employers of this state are creating those jobs and to the extent that they’re not filled in the state of Wisconsin, they’re going to go elsewhere,” said Rothman.
Leaders realize the state must find ways to improve the situation.
“My hope is that working with the legislature, the executive branch, the business community, we can come up with ways to help Wisconsin address that demographic challenge that it faces and not accept that as our reality,” added Rothman.
One thing’s for sure: this is an issue that’s not going to be solved overnight.
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