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• The "Shrek" franchise is returning with another sequel.
• DreamWorks Animation announced on Tuesday that "Shrek 5" will premiere in July 2026.
• Here's what to know about the long-awaited movie. 

"Shrek 5" is heading to theaters in 2026.

It has been 14 years since the last sequel to "Shrek," the pop culture juggernaut that turned DreamWorks Animation into a leading film studio.

The first film won an Oscar, and the franchise made nearly $3 billion across the first four films. The "Puss In Boots" spinoff movies, released in 2011 and 2022, also made an extra billion dollars.

A "Shrek" sequel has been rumored for years, but fans were beginning to lose hope after "Shrek Forever After" provided a neat finish to the story. The decision to restart the "Shrek" franchise may be due to the surprise success of "Puss In Boots: The Last Wish," which had a slow opening but eventually made $481 million.

"The Last Wish" arrived 11 years after "Shrek," proving that there is still an audience for the films.

Here's what we know so far about "Shrek 5."

Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, and Cameron Diaz are returning for "Shrek 5."

Last month, Eddie Murphy, who plays Donkey, told Collider that he had started recording his lines for "Shrek 5" and said that DreamWorks plans to release a spinoff about his character.

On Tuesday, DreamWorks Animation finally confirmed that "Shrek 5" is in the works. It also announced that Mike Myers will return as Shrek, with Cameron Diaz as Fiona.

No word yet on Antonio Banderas, who joined the franchise in "Shrek 2" as the outlaw Puss in Boots. Banderas voiced Puss in Boots in both of the spinoff movies (the first is set before "Shrek" and the second is set after "Shrek Forever After") and has made no announcement about stepping down from the role.

This could mean that the fan-favorite feline won't show up, or Banderas hasn't been able to finalize his deal with DreamWorks yet.

Walt Dohrn will co-direct "Shrek 5" with Brad Ableson, the director of "Minions: The Rise of Gru." Dohrn was a writer and artist on "Shrek 2" and "Shrek the Third," was the head of the story on "Shrek Forever After," and the voice of Rumpelstiltskin in the latter film.

The movie's producers are Gina Shay, who produced "Shrek Forever After," and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri.

"Shrek 5" will premiere summer 2026.

There are no details yet on the plot or how it will follow "Shrek Forever After."

The last movie ended with Shrek and Fiona happily raising their three triplets after Shrek learns to appreciate his life as a father.

Dreamwork Animation set "Shrek 5" to premiere on July 1, 2026, so we will likely hear more details about the plot soon.

• Ukrainian soldiers survived two months of being encircled by Russian forces. 
• The only way to get supplies to them was using drones, their battalion said.
• The soldiers were fighting on one of the most brutal battlefronts of the war.

Trapped Ukrainian soldiers who were surrounded by Russian forces survived for more than two months in large part due to drone deliveries, their battalion said on Wednesday.

A group of at least eight soldiers from the 225th Separate Assault Battalion and the 223rd Marine Battalion withstood 70 days of encirclement despite injuries and constant Russian attacks, the 225th said in a Facebook post.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, the soldiers were trapped along the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal on the Chasiv Yar front, in eastern Ukraine.

Forbes placed them in a forest just northwest of the city.

While the battalion tried to clear a path to the trapped soldiers, they "held a perimeter defence, repelling the occupiers' attacks around the clock," the battalion wrote, per Ukrainska Pravda's translation.

"The only way to supply them was via drones, which we used to deliver ammunition, food and water," it added.

The battalion did not say when the events took place, and Business Insider was unable to independently verify the battalion's report.

According to the battalion, the soldiers' position is still under Ukrainian control, and they have now been rotated out.

Chasiv Yar has been the focal point of intense Russian assaults throughout the spring.

The town itself is still in Ukrainian hands, but the Institute for the Study of War noted several Russian attacks in the area in recent days.

This latest episode again highlights the important role drones are playing in the war in Ukraine.

Exploding drone attacks on land and at sea, as well as the growing phenomenon of drone dogfighting, have dominated the headlines.

But drones are also being used for supply missions, reconnaissance, and, in some cases, even helping Russian soldiers surrender to Ukraine.

• NATO accused China of enabling Russia's war in Ukraine and urged it to cease support.
• It said China had supplied Russia with weapon components, bypassing Western sanctions.
• China said NATO had a "Cold War mentality" and "belligerent rhetoric."

NATO on Wednesday accused China of being "a decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine" and demanded that it stop aiding Moscow's military or face the consequences.

In the alliance's Washington Summit declaration, published before a White House dinner with its leader, it called on China "to cease all material and political support to Russia's war effort."

The declaration, the first of its kind, said China had been a major supplier of weapon components and defense equipment to Russia since the start of the war.

It included an implicit threat. "The PRC cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation," the declaration said.

Natalie Sabanadze, a senior research fellow at Chatham House in London, told The New York Times she expected European countries to "start sanctioning Chinese companies slowly, while carefully weighing consequences and a potential backlash."

She added that NATO's warning "tells China that there will be costs."

The strongest rebuke yet

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, described the language as the "strongest message NATO allies have ever sent on China's contributions to Russia's illegal war against Ukraine."

NATO and the US believe China has supplied Russia with equipment such as chips and integrated circuits, which can be used to produce weapons. In response, China has said it is not a party to the Ukraine war and that there should be no interference with trade between China and Russia.

China hit back at the latest accusations, describing them as "prejudice, smears and provocation." It added that NATO had a "Cold War mentality" and "belligerent rhetoric."

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jin said "NATO hyped up China's responsibility" in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.

"It makes no sense and comes with malicious intent," Lin said.

"We urge NATO to reflect on the root cause of the crisis and what it has done, and take concrete action to de-escalate rather than shift blame."

A shift in NATO's stance

The declaration marks a key shift in NATO's stance on China. As The New York Times reported, the alliance used bland language when discussing issues or concerns surrounding China in the past. It first named the country as a concern in 2019.

European countries have historically been hesitant to stand against Beijing, known for its distribution of luxury items and cars, The Times reported.

But the language surrounding China has subtly evolved.

Last week, NATO member and Finland's President Alexander Stubb said in an interview with Bloomberg that China has so much influence on Russia that it could effectively end the war.

"I argue that Russia is so dependent on China right now that one phone call from President Xi Jinping would solve this crisis," Stubb said."If he were to say, 'Time to start negotiating peace.' Russia would be forced to do that."

"They would have no other choice," he added.

Jake Sullivan, a national security advisor to President Biden, said the NATO declaration shows that its members "now collectively understand this challenge," according to The Times.

"If this PRC support continues, it will degrade its relations across Europe, and the United States will continue to impose sanctions on PRC entities involved in this activity, in coordination with our European allies," he added.

Meanwhile, NATO pledged to continue to provide long-term security to Ukraine.

According to the declaration, NATO members have collectively contributed €40 billion, or around $43.4 billion, in military aid to Ukraine each year since the war began in February 2022. The alliance said it aims to contribute the same amount in 2024.

• The two NASA astronauts stuck on the ISS remain cheery despite not having a return date yet.
• "I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home," Suni Williams said.
• "It feels good to float around," she added.

Two NASA astronauts stuck in space are upbeat and optimistic despite the numerous delays in their return to Earth via Boeing's Starliner.

The duo — Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore — arrived at the International Space Station via the Starliner on June 6 after a series of delays that postponed the craft's launch by a month.

While they were supposed to stay for only eight to 10 days, they have been stuck on the space station for over a month now, with no return date scheduled.

But they remain in good spirits, telling reporters on a press call on Wednesday that they were certain they would be home safe.

When a CBS reporter asked if the astronauts were confident the Starliner would get them home safely, Wilmore said: "We're absolutely confident."

"We've practiced a lot," Williams said, responding to a similar question by the Associated Press. "I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home."

The astronauts' return was delayed on June 21 to assess issues on board and make time for two spacewalks on June 24 and July 2.

The delay came after the crew detected five helium leaks on board the Starliner. Helium supports the spacecraft's reaction control system thrusters, which enables them to fire up.

But issues like the ones they're facing are to be expected, Wilmore said, calling human spaceflight a "tough business."

"There have been multiple issues with every spacecraft that's ever been designed," he added.

"I'll just reiterate again: This is a test flight. We were expecting to find some things. And so we are finding stuff, and we're correcting it, making changes and updates with our control team," Williams said.

Williams said they weren't complaining about having extra time on board. Since they had both been on the ISS before, it felt like "coming back home."

"We are having a great time here on ISS," Williams said. "It feels good to float around."

Williams, who NASA selected as an astronaut in 1998, spent 322 days in space before the Starliner project. Wilmore, a NASA astronaut since 2000, spent 178 days in space before the Starliner launch.

Starliner is the first instance of Boeing sending up a crewed spacecraft to the ISS and represents the company's major push to break into the commercial human-spaceflight business.

But Boeing lags behind Elon Musk's SpaceX, which sent astronauts to space since 2020.

Boeing and SpaceX were the two American companies selected by NASA in 2014 to explore commercial space transport.

Representatives for NASA didn't immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

• Ray Dalio thinks the Democratic Party has a huge problem with Joe Biden.
• "I look at this case like the fable of the emperor who has no clothes," Dalio said.
• He outlined three ways the party could deal with Biden before the November polls.

Investor Ray Dalio says the Democratic Party has a big problem with the uncertainty surrounding President Joe Biden's candidacy — and they need to nip it in the bud.

Dalio, the founder of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, wrote a column for Time magazine published Tuesday. The same article was also posted on Dalio's LinkedIn profile.

"To begin, I want to make clear that I respect, like, and empathize with President Biden and I get that Democrats find themselves in a difficult position," Dalio wrote.

"I look at this case like the fable of the emperor who has no clothes," Dalio added. "I think about what happened when everyone saw that he had no clothes and the lessons the fable provides — that it's best to recognize the truth and move on in the best possible way."

The Democrats, per Dalio, now have three possible courses of action.

First, the party can retain Biden as its nominee, a path Dalio thinks the party has chosen for now — at least publicly.

But Dalio pointed out that this first strategy would likely leave voters "with a loss of trust in the Democrats' straightforwardness and judgment," given the president's advanced age.

The billionaire then suggested two alternative strategies, including a "mini-primary plan" where a select group of candidates battle it out to succeed Biden.

Dalio's other suggestion is a "coronation plan," which would see Vice President Kamala Harris being tapped to take over Biden's spot.

Dalio said he preferred the mini-primary option, which would allow voters to stress-test Biden's replacement — but recognized that this plan would likely hurt the Democratic Party's chances in the election.

"I think that, regardless of which plan they choose, they must acknowledge the problem —that Biden might not be able to serve out his term — and explain how they will deal with that in a detailed way," Dalio wrote.

Representatives for Biden didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

Calls for Biden to drop out have grown following his disastrous performance in a June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump. Biden's speech was riddled with gaffes and stumbles, which prompted concerns over his mental acuity and fitness.

For now, Biden appears determined to stay in the race. On Monday, he wrote a letter to congressional Democrats reiterating his intention to run and beat Trump.

But some of Biden's colleagues don't appear to share that zeal for his 2024 run.

"It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run," former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.

"I want him to do whatever he decides to do. And that's the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with," she added.

• NASA says there are no plans to send a SpaceX Dragon to rescue two astronauts stranded on the ISS. 
• Issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft have left Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore stuck on the space station.
• A SpaceX rescue mission would be humiliating for Boeing, which is competing with Musk's rocket firm.

NASA said it has no plans right now to send one of Elon Musk's spacecrafts to rescue two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station.

Speaking in a joint NASA-Boeing press briefing on Wednesday, NASA official Steve Stich said there had been "no discussion" about sending a SpaceX Dragon to pick up NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, stranded on the ISS aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

One of SpaceX's Dragon capsules is already docked at the ISS, having launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in March.

"There's really been no discussion with sending another Dragon to rescue the Starliner crew," said Stich.

However, he admitted the space agency could potentially turn to Elon Musk's rocket firm if the situation worsened.

"Certainly, we've dusted off a few of those things to look at relative to Starliner, just to be prepared in the event that we would have to use some of those kinds of things," Stich said.

"Again, our prime option is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner. We've declared Starliner safe to be an emergency return vehicle … we just want to understand the thrusters a little bit more before we commit to the final undock and return," he added.

Boeing's Starliner, the company's first commercial crewed spacecraft, has had a difficult first voyage.

The spaceship, which launched in June after years of delays, was meant to spend a little over a week docked at the ISS — but a series of issues, including helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, have left its two passengers stuck in orbit for more than a month.

NASA and Boeing have insisted that Starliner is safe and that it can still return to Earth in an emergency, but officials told journalists on Wednesday that the astronauts may not return home until mid-August at the latest as ground teams continue to analyze data from Starliner.

The prospect of the astronauts being rescued by SpaceX would be humiliating for Boeing, which is competing with Elon Musk's rocket company to transport astronauts to the ISS.

The aviation giant has lagged behind SpaceX, which completed its first crewed mission to the ISS with its Dragon capsule in 2020.

Musk has criticized Boeing, accusing it of having too many "non-technical managers" and pointing out Boeing CEO David Calhoun's lack of engineering background.

The issues with Starliner are a headache Boeing does not need right now, with the company facing growing scrutiny over its safety culture after a door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight.

Boeing agreed to plead guilty this week over separate charges that it violated deferred prosecution agreements after two deadly 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Boeing and NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• An Air China flight was canceled after a passenger accidentally opened an emergency exit.
• Local media reported the first-time flyer confused the exit for a bathroom door, citing officials.
• The incident took place on a flight due to fly from the eastern city of Quzhou to Chengdu in China's west.

A passenger opened an emergency exit after mistaking it for the bathroom door, according to Chinese media reports, which cited local officials.

Data from Flightradar24 shows last Thursday's Air China flight from Quzhou in eastern China to Chengdu in the western Sichuan region was canceled.

According to the Chongqing Morning Post, authorities at Quzhou Airport confirmed that the passenger was flying for the first time and believed the door led to the bathroom.

A screenshot of a Chinese flight-tracking app showed that the flight was canceled due to "passenger reasons. An image of an Airbus A320 with an emergency slide deployed, purported to be the plane involved in the incident, was shared by local outlets and circulated on social media.

According to the long-running Chinese newspaper Guangming Daily, Air China rescheduled the flight for the following day, July 5.

Flightradar data shows the following day's flight departing at 10:22 p.m., around one hour and 40 minutes late, and landing around an hour late at 12:31 a.m. on July 6.

One passenger told the outlet that flyers were offered compensation of 400 yuan ($55).

Air China did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

This isn't the first time that a new flyer has made a mistake in China.

In March, a China Southern Airlines passenger threw coins into an Airbus A350 engine, prompting the airline to post a warning on social media. Similar incidents were reported in 2017 and 2019, with the latter resulting in a lawsuit for $21,000.

Other passengers have also had problems with the emergency exits. In January, an Air Canada traveler boarded a Boeing 777 and then opened a door before falling onto the tarmac.

• More US companies are dropping education and experience requirements for jobs, according to Indeed.
• This could help some Americans find work, but it could also help companies pay their workers less.
• As hiring slows, dropping hiring requirements could help businesses land some workers at a discount. 

More US companies are dropping experience and education requirements from their job postings. For some firms, it could be their latest strategy to save money on labor costs.

As of April, the most recent data available, 30% of US job postings on Indeed included a desired level of work experience — down from about 40% in 2022. As of January, 48% of Indeed postings included an education requirement, down from about 52% in 2019.

In recent years, many employers have struggled to find workers and therefore considered a wider talent pool. Some companies began prioritizing skills-based hiring — rather than evaluating workers based largely on their education and experience — in the hopes of finding talented candidates they might have overlooked in the past. This shift could increase competition for some jobs, and applicants with a college degree, for example, might have less of an edge than they once did. But advocates for this new hiring approach say giving more people a chance at landing more jobs is a positive development overall.

However, companies aren't simply dropping requirements out of the goodness of their hearts. As some businesses look to cut labor costs amid economic uncertainty, ditching hiring requirements could be an effective way for some companies to get workers at a discount, Cory Stahle, an economist at Indeed, told Business Insider via email.

Take a job posting that requires two years of work experience, Stahle said. Two years ago, when job openings were at record highs, the typical worker with about four years of experience might have had little interest in this job. There was a decent chance they could find another role that better fit their experience level and paid more as a result.

But things have changed. While the unemployment rate is low compared to past decades, slowing hiring across the country has made it more difficult for some Americans to find work. As of March, hiring on LinkedIn was down compared to the prior year in each of the 20 industries measured, including financial services, tech, and healthcare.

In this new hiring landscape, Stahle said a job seeker with four years of work experience might be willing to accept a more junior role — even if it means taking a pay cut. But if the job posting lists two years of experience as the requirement, a more experienced job seeker might think the employer is focused on more junior candidates and be less likely to apply, Stahle said. Dropping an experience requirement could convince this type of candidate to submit an application.

"It's possible that workers with more experience may be more willing to accept a position requiring less experience — potentially, perhaps especially, if the actual desired or required level of experience is not specified," Stahle said. "Removing these requirements may allow employers to attract a higher number of high-quality candidates, including those with more years of relevant work experience under their belt, to jobs that may pay at a more junior level."

Dropping hiring requirements could save some companies money

There's some evidence that companies could already be dropping hiring requirements in part to cut costs. Using Indeed data, Stahle analyzed the industries that had the largest declines in experience and education requirements in Indeed job postings between April 2023 and 2024. He found that the industries with the largest declines in hiring requirements also saw "rapidly cooling demand" for workers over this period.

Stahle said companies in industries that have slowed hiring might be particularly motivated to cut labor costs — and well-positioned to do so.

"With fewer opportunities available and more competition, job seekers might be willing to take a lower paying position — even if just temporarily," he said.

The banking and finance industry, which has seen layoffs and a hiring slowdown in recent years, was among the industries with the largest declines in education and experience requirements. The marketing and IT sectors also have experienced hiring slowdowns and large declines in hiring requirements, per Indeed data.

Additionally, when a company drops education and experience requirements, workers with more experience or education aren't the only ones who might be more likely to apply. This could also attract capable applicants with less experience and education — and whose salary demands could be more modest, Stahle said.

It's not clear how much of an impact the decline in hiring requirements has had on employer's labor costs. But it's one example of the way a shift in labor market power away from workers and toward employers can impact workers' pay.

Compared to two years ago, many workers have less power to switch jobs and ask for a raise — and people who need work have fewer options. These developments are among the reasons wage growth has fallen over the past two years.

To be sure, not all companies that have dropped job posting requirements have made significant changes to their hiring practices. But Stahle thinks the decline in requirements could reflect a real shift in how many companies will approach hiring in the years to come.

Though he doesn't expect the broader shift away from education and experience requirements to reverse anytime soon, Stahle said some companies could modify their hiring strategies if the economic environment changes.

"It's possible that employers are shifting their hiring preferences — perhaps temporarily — toward less experienced but also very likely less costly hires," he said.

Are you struggling to find a job? Are you willing to share your story? If so, reach out to this reporter at jzinkula@businessinsider.com.

• Taiwan's chip boom is expected to drive a surge in the number of millionaires on the island, according to UBS.
• The island's semiconductor sector, led by TSMC, is bolstering its economy and exports.
• However, inequality in Taiwan has widened as the growth in tech industries is more robust than in other sectors.

Taiwan's status as the world's chip hub has kept the island's economy resilient.

The industry is so hot that Taiwan is expected to mint many new US-dollar millionaires in the next five years, according to Swiss bank UBS' annual wealth report, released on Wednesday.

Taiwan was home to nearly 790,000 US dollar millionaires last year. This number could surge by 47% to about 1.16 million millionaires by 2028, UBS predicts, leading the 56 global markets the bank analyzed in its report.

That said, the size of Taiwan's millionaire population pales when compared to the US.

The US was home to nearly 22 million millionaires last year, per UBS. That number is expected to grow 16% to 25.5 million millionaires over the next five years.

UBS attributes Taiwan's wealth growth to its semiconductor chip industry, which is "set to reap the rewards of the boom in artificial intelligence."

Taiwan is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker and the sole supplier of key advanced chips to Apple and Nvidia, among others.

Chip rush boosts wealth but widens inequality

Even though UBS expects a huge jump in the number of millionaires in Taiwan, much of the island's 23 million population is not likely to benefit from the AI craze.

UBS' data shows wealth inequality widened by about 10% in Taiwan from 2008 to 2023.

The median net worth in Taiwan stood at $110,521 per adult in 2023, according to UBS. The average net worth was nearly three times that amount at $302,551.

This means people at the top of the scale got a lot richer than those further down the totem pole over that time period, skewing average wealth upward.

Official data from Taiwan confirms the trend, showing that the wealth gap between the top 20% and bottom 20% of households has widened fourfold over three decades.

Taiwan's Gini coefficient, which measures inequality, also widened from 1991 to 2021, when the last two official wealth surveys were conducted.

Taiwan's tech sector growth is outpacing the non-tech sector

One key trend contributing to wealth inequality in Taiwan is that its tech industry is doing better than industries not related to tech.

TSMC's performance has soared on the back of the AI rush, with its second-quarter sales growing 40% over a year ago — beating analyst expectations. On Monday, TSMC ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange briefly crossed the $1 trillion valuation mark.

It's not just TSMC. The rise of the chip behemoth has created an entire tech ecosystem in Taiwan, much of which is centered on hardware.

This ecosystem has been driving Taiwan's economy even amid longstanding geopolitical uncertainty as China claims the island as its territory. The country's GDP grew 6.5% in the first quarter of the year from a year ago. This was boosted by exports of machinery and electrical equipment, which surged nearly 28% from a year ago. However, domestic demand growth was modest, growing just 1% over the same period.

Ma Tieying, a senior economist at Singapore's DBS bank, wrote in a note on Wednesday that she expects the world's AI drive to continue fuelling demand for high-performance chips from Taiwan.

However, recovery in non-tech traditional manufacturing is expected to continue to be a drag due to the economic slowdown in China, which accounts for about one-third of Taiwan's total exports, Ma added.

• Families with young kids continue to flee major US cities, despite urban recovery post-pandemic.
• The population of children under five in New York City fell 18% from April 2020 to July 2023.
• Big urban counties have lost young kids at almost double the national rate, a new report found.

When the pandemic hit, young families fled cities across the US in droves. They moved to suburbs, exurbs, and rural areas in search of a more affordable, convenient life, driven in large part by housing costs.

As major US cities have rebounded from pandemic lockdowns, that trend has slowed, but families with young kids are still fleeing, a new report from the Economic Innovation Group found.

The report found that the population of children under five years old in New York City fell 18% between April 2020 and July 2023, while the number of young children fell by 15% in Chicago's Cook County, 15% in San Francisco, and 14% in Los Angeles County in that same period.

On average, large urban counties had a 3.9% in the number of kids under five between 2020 and 2021, 2.2% between 2021 and 2022, and 1.5% between 2022 and 2023.

Big cities like New York have begun growing again since the pandemic, but those population gains are primarily due to a rise in immigrant residents and declining death rates, according to the report, which is based on US Census data published this month. Overall, domestic out-migration from big cities is still double the rate it was pre-pandemic.

"This stuck out as a big surprise to me," EIG policy analyst Connor O'Brien, who authored the report, told Business Insider. "This data is three years out from the start of the pandemic, cities have started to recover robustly on a bunch of different measures." But, he added, "Young families are just not coming back."

This comes amid a general aging of the US population. The US birthrate is falling, and the population of young children nationwide has dropped 4.6% since the pandemic, the EIG report noted. The population of young kids fell in two-thirds of the nation's counties since April 2020. In 2023 alone, the number of young kids fell in 58% of all counties.

But large urban counties have lost young kids at almost double the national average rate. Birth rates in big cities have also fallen at about double the rate of rural birth rates over the last ten years, EIG found.

All of this is pretty bad news for big cities, many of which are still struggling to fend off the so-called "urban doom loop" in downtowns emptied of workers and facing shrinking tax bases.

"Parents are opting out of living in big cities or deciding to still live there but have no kids," O'Brien said. "I think that sends a pretty depressing message about the growth prospects of those cities going forward because at the end of the day, people vote with their feet."

EIG's analysis echoes other recent reports. Families with kids under six years old are more than twice as likely to leave New York City than families without young kids, the Fiscal Policy Institute found. Families with kids six or older moved out of the city at the same rates as childless families, suggesting that the costs "uniquely associated with young children — childcare and the need for more space" are pushing families to leave, FPI, a left-leaning think tank, argued.

O'Brien blames the exodus on a slew of factors, ranging from the popularity of remote and hybrid work to the surprisingly strong recent economic recovery of many exurban and rural areas.

The result? Some exurbs — particularly in the pro-development Sunbelt — are seeing young families flood in. Exurban counties like Polk County, Florida, which sits between Orlando and Tampa, and Montgomery County, Texas, which is outside Houston, are booming.

As Business Insider has previously reported, millennials aren't just leaving the urban core — they're moving to the farthest reaches of the suburbs. This phenomenon is perhaps a predictable result of the back-to-the-city movement they led over the last two decades. That surge in demand for housing and amenities has made many urban cores some of the most expensive places to live in the country.

For years, rising housing costs in cities have pushed even the most devoted young city dwellers to move to the exurbs and suburbs, where housing has generally been more abundant and affordable. And the pandemic only deepened that trend.

Have you moved your family out of a major US city? Reach out to this reporter at erelman@businessinsider.com to share your story.