LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The nation’s child population is shrinking, including in Kentucky, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation that looks at the latest Census data. Louisville is one of ten cities with the largest reported decreases in kids within the past decade.

John Lyons, Director of the University of Kentucky’s Center for Innovation in Population Health, said typically researchers look at the percentage of children as an indicator of whether a society is growing or declining, and added says kids are good for the economy and helping communities thrive.

“I think one of the challenges we have is that we monetize doom,” he said. “You can hit very easy to doom scroll on the internet. I think that actually leads people both to not want to have children, it also makes it harder to be a child, because there’s not a sense of a positive future. “

The report also found that children of color are a larger share of the total child population, from representing 26 percent of all kids in 1980 to 53 percent in 2020.

Lyons added societal expectations and shifting cultural norms, birth-control access and federal and local policies all impact child population changes.

“People are waiting longer before they get married and waiting longer before they find a partner or waiting longer before they have children,” he said. “So, there’s a number of demographic trends that are all happening at the same time.”

According to the report, fewer births will result in a lower number of people entering the labor market in the coming decades.