Birth rates were way down during the Great Depression.
True. My dad was born in 1930, the first year of the Great Depression. His next sibling wasn't born until 1938, when my grandparents were finally stabilized enough to have another child.
On the other hand, when I was born in the 1950s, the U.S. economy was roaring, and Americans were in the midst of creating the baby boom. I've got six brothers and sisters.