Those who think New York is too crowded already will see good news in the federal report, released yesterday, showing a decline in the number of babies born in New York City in 2002. The statistics, which are preliminary, show that 122,930 babies were born in New York City last year, down from 124,023 in 2001, according to the city’s count. This seems to suggest that all the talk of a post-September 11 baby boom was press hype. In a press release, President Bush’s Health and Human Services secretary, Governor Thompson, hailed a nationwide reduction in teen pregnancy, calling it “a significant accomplishment,” which it doubtless is.

The decline in live births in New York was mirrored nationwide. There were about 6,000 fewer children born in America in 2002 than in 2001. Though the year-to-year decreases are small in percentage terms, they accumulate over the years. An Associated Press report on the federal release said that the national birth rate for 2002 — the number of births for every 1,000 total population — was the lowest since the federal government started keeping comprehensive records of such things, more than 100 years ago.

Some of the decline in the birth rate is arguably the result of good things. Medical advances mean that infants are more likely to make it to adulthood. Advances in prosperity and pension systems mean that fewer children are needed to support elderly parents. The Department of Health and Human Services press release explained that “the current low birth rate primarily reflects the smaller proportion of women of childbearing age in the U.S. population, as baby boomers age and Americans are living longer.”

For all that, we are in the camp that thinks population growth is a good thing, both a cause of economic growth and, in some instances, an effect of it. New York City’s astounding renaissance during the 1990s, for instance, coincided with a population boom in the city. Some of the world’s most prosperous cities — New York, Hong Kong — are among the densest. With the city’s economy sagging and the nation’s mired in what feels like a slowdown, more taxpayers and customers and entrepreneurs would help provide a boost. If existing New Yorkers and Americans are not fecund enough to provide these additional citizens naturally — well, then, it’s one more good reason to open America’s doors to increased levels of legal immigration.