The weak economic recovery in the United States is playing out at the household level — fertility rates are at record lows, especially among those fearful of losing their jobs or homes.

Birth rates fell to the lowest rate ever reported in 2011 and again in 2012, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. There were 63.2 births per 1,000 women in 2012 and 63.4 births per 1,000 women in 2011, down from the 69.3 births per thousand in 2007, the year before the economic downturn began.

"When times are up, births go up," D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer at Pew Research Center, told CNBC. "When times are bad, births go down."

Editor's Note: Prophetic Economist Warns: “It’s Curtains for America.” See Evidence.

While women who put off having babies because of financial troubles often try to catch up eventually, it is unclear whether that will be the case coming out of this long and slow economic cycle, CNBC said.

Alice Schoonbroodt, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Iowa who has studied fertility issues, said many Americans still feel their economic situation is unsettled.

"It takes nine months. You need to be confident ... that in the forseeable future things are going to be good," she noted.

There is no standard for whether someone has enough money to have children. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that a middle-income two-parent family will spend $234,000 rearing a child before college costs are tacked on, a 23 percent hike since 1960, adjusted for inflation, CNBC reported.

According to the CDC data, fertility rates for women in their early 40s actually increased slightly in recent years, while fertility rates among teens and women in their early 20s have shown the steepest drops.

As economic uncertainties continue to be drawn out, some women may miss their window of fertility to have children, according to CNBC.

"History teaches us that there will be a bounce back. But whether it will be a full recovery, I don't know," Cohn said.

Dr. Mitchell Maiman, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Staten Island University Hospital in New York, told HealthDay News he expects women will continue to postpone childbirth.

"More and more women are not only in the work force, but more women are the primary breadwinner in the family," he said.

"So you are going to have more women who are delaying childbearing to enhance their careers. And you have amazing technology to enable them to accomplish that," Maiman explained. "You are going to see older and older mothers."

Editor's Note: Prophetic Economist Warns: “It’s Curtains for America.” See Evidence.