JEWISH FERTILITY IS BELOW THE REPLACEMENT RATE “While Jewish fertility approache

http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=46437AMERICAN JEWISH FERTILITY IS BELOW THE REPLACEMENT RATE

“While Jewish fertility approaches general fertility levels in later childbearing ages, overall Jewish fertility is too low to replace the Jewish population. NJPS data point to an average number of children born to Jewish women of less than 1.9. Demographers generally regard 2.1 as the average necessary for population stability. Moreover, a sizeable fraction of children raised by Jewish women and men in interfaith homes are not raised as Jews. Consequently, the “effective Jewish birthrate” is below 1.9 children per Jewish woman. Current Jewish fertility will contribute over time to a declining Jewish population, if other sources of population growth such as immigration do not compensate for it.”