Giving Compass' Take:

• Caroline Sten Hartnett at The Conversation discusses reasons why fertility rates have been falling in America. She reviews three charts that break down childbearing variants. 

• How can philanthropists help drive support for more research in fertility? 

• Here's an article on pushing boundaries to preserve fertility using IVF.

Falling U.S. fertility rates have been making headlines.

These reports tend to focus on a single measure: the average number of children that women have, nationally. However, this one number masks large and interesting variation in people’s childbearing behavior.

The National Survey of Family Growth – one of the best sources of information on this topic – released a report in July that points to some of this variation.

It shows that the number of children and the timing of childbearing differ meaningfully across women and across groups, reflecting some of the significant demographic divides in the U.S.

Read the full article about falling fertility rates by Caroline Sten Hartnett at The Conversation