

US Births Rise for First Time Since 2014; Black Women Saw Drop
The US saw the first increase in the number of births last year since 2014, after a pronounced drop during the shutdowns of the first year of the pandemic that disrupted much social and economic activity. The total number of births rose to 3.66 million in 2021, up from 3.61 million the year before, provisional data released by the National Center for Health Statistics showed Tuesday. Last year’s 1% gain marked a big turnaround from the 3.8% drop in 2020, which had outpaced th