Births across a number of states have plummeted over the course of the Chinese coronavirus crisis that has inflicted an economic catastrophe as a result of government-mandated lockdowns, new data reveals.

Monthly data from Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, and Ohio, published by Bloomberg, shows significant drops in births last year. Some of the largest declines occurred nine months after coronavirus lockdowns began in March 2020.

There have been more than 50,000 fewer births in these five states compared to the same time in 2019. Specifically, in California, the birth rate dropped 19 percent overall compared to 2019 and decreased the most in December 2020.

As Breitbart News reported, the U.S. is expected to have up to 50,000 fewer births this year as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Such a decrease in U.S. births would account for a ten percent decrease compared to 2019 births. The decrease means that the total number of babies to be born in the U.S. next year is projected at about double the total number of Americans who died with or from coronavirus.

As Breitbart News reported, birth and fertility rate data released by the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that fewer than 3.8 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2018 — a drop of two percent, or almost 64,000 fewer births compared to the year before.

Since 1971, the birth rate has been below replacement level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Birth rates across all major racial groups — non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks, and non-Hispanic Asians — were again below replacement level for 2018.

Despite a declining birth rate below replacement level, Republican and Democrat lawmakers have yet to lay out a national agenda to increase American births, fertility, and family rates.

When Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán implemented a pro-family agenda to increase his nation’s birth rate among similar rapid decline, the nation saw a 5.5 percent increase in the birth rate and a 5.7 percent increase in the fertility rate compared to before the policies were implemented.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.