Births Rise as Parents-to-Be Renew Confidence in Economy

An increase in the number of babies being born provides the latest sign that the U.S. economy is mending from the worst recession of the post-World War II era.

Births rose less than 1 percent to 3.96 million in 2012, the first annual increase since the number tumbled from the historic high reached just as the economic recession began in December 2007, according to provisional data released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.