The statistic shows the 20 countries with the lowest fertility rates in 2024. All figures are estimates. In 2024, the fertility rate in Taiwan was estimated to be at 1.11 children per woman, making it the lowest fertility rate worldwide. Fertility rate The fertility rate is the average number of children born per woman of child-bearing age in a country. Usually, a woman aged between 15 and 45 is considered to be in her child-bearing years. The fertility rate of a country provides an insight into its economic state, as well as the level of health and education of its population. Developing countries usually have a higher fertility rate due to lack of access to birth control and contraception, and to women usually foregoing a higher education, or even any education at all, in favor of taking care of housework. Many families in poorer countries also need their children to help provide for the family by starting to work early and/or as caretakers for their parents in old age. In developed countries, fertility rates and birth rates are usually much lower, as birth control is easier to obtain and women often choose a career before becoming a mother. Additionally, if the number of women of child-bearing age declines, so does the fertility rate of a country. As can be seen above, countries like Hong Kong are a good example for women leaving the patriarchal structures and focusing on their own career instead of becoming a mother at a young age, causing a decline of the country’s fertility rate. A look at the fertility rate per woman worldwide by income group also shows that women with a low income tend to have more children than those with a high income. The United States are neither among the countries with the lowest, nor among those with the highest fertility rate, by the way. At 2.08 children per woman, the fertility rate in the US has been continuously slightly below the global average of about 2.4 children per woman over the last decade.

The average for 2022 based on 195 countries was 18.38 births per 1000 people. The highest value was in Niger: 45.03 births per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Hong Kong: 4.4 births per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2024, the average number of children born per 1,000 people in China ranged at ****. The birth rate has dropped considerably since 2016, and the number of births fell below the number of deaths in 2022 for the first time in decades, leading to a negative population growth rate. Recent development of the birth rate Similar to most East-Asian countries and territories, demographics in China today are characterized by a very low fertility rate. As low fertility in the long-term limits economic growth and leads to heavy strains on the pension and health systems, the Chinese government decided to support childbirth by gradually relaxing strict birth control measures, that had been in place for three decades. However, the effect of this policy change was considerably smaller than expected. The birth rate increased from **** births per 1,000 inhabitants in 2010 to ***** births in 2012 and remained on a higher level for a couple of years, but then dropped again to a new low in 2018. This illustrates that other factors constrain the number of births today. These factors are most probably similar to those experienced in other developed countries as well: women preferring career opportunities over maternity, high costs for bringing up children, and changed social norms, to name only the most important ones. Future demographic prospects Between 2020 and 2023, the birth rate in China dropped to formerly unknown lows, most probably influenced by the coronavirus pandemic. As all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted by the end of 2022, births figures showed a catch-up effect in 2024. However, the scope of the rebound might be limited. A population breakdown by five-year age groups indicates that the drop in the number of births is also related to a shrinking number of people with child-bearing age. The age groups between 15 and 29 years today are considerably smaller than those between 30 and 44, leaving less space for the birth rate to increase. This effect is exacerbated by a considerable gender gap within younger age groups in China, with the number of females being much lower than that of males.

The total fertility rate of the world has dropped from around 5 children per woman in 1950, to 2.2 children per woman in 2025, which means that women today are having fewer than half the number of children that women did 75 years ago. Replacement level fertility This change has come as a result of the global demographic transition, and is influenced by factors such as the significant reduction in infant and child mortality, reduced number of child marriages, increased educational and vocational opportunities for women, and the increased efficacy and availability of contraception. While this change has become synonymous with societal progress, it does have wide-reaching demographic impact - if the global average falls below replacement level (roughly 2.1 children per woman), as is expected to happen in the 2050s, then this will lead to long-term population decline on a global scale. Regional variations When broken down by continent, Africa is the only region with a fertility rate above the global average, and, alongside Oceania, it is the only region with a fertility rate above replacement level. Until the 1980s, the average woman in Africa could expect to have 6-7 children over the course of their lifetime, and there are still several countries in Africa where women can still expect to have 5 or more children in 2025. Historically, Europe has had the lowest fertility rates in the world over the past century, falling below replacement level in 1975. Europe's population has grown through a combination of migration and increasing life expectancy, however even high immigration rates could not prevent its population from going into decline in 2021.

Today, globally, women of childbearing age have an average of approximately 2.2 children over the course of their lifetime. In pre-industrial times, most women could expect to have somewhere between five and ten live births throughout their lifetime; however, the demographic transition then sees fertility rates fall significantly. Looking ahead, it is believed that the global fertility rate will fall below replacement level in the 2050s, which will eventually lead to population decline when life expectancy plateaus. Recent decades Between the 1950s and 1970s, the global fertility rate was roughly five children per woman - this was partly due to the post-WWII baby boom in many countries, on top of already-high rates in less-developed countries. The drop around 1960 can be attributed to China's "Great Leap Forward", where famine and disease in the world's most populous country saw the global fertility rate drop by roughly 0.5 children per woman. Between the 1970s and today, fertility rates fell consistently, although the rate of decline noticeably slowed as the baby boomer generation then began having their own children. Replacement level fertility Replacement level fertility, i.e. the number of children born per woman that a population needs for long-term stability, is approximately 2.1 children per woman. Populations may continue to grow naturally despite below-replacement level fertility, due to reduced mortality and increased life expectancy, however, these will plateau with time and then population decline will occur. It is believed that the global fertility rate will drop below replacement level in the mid-2050s, although improvements in healthcare and living standards will see population growth continue into the 2080s when the global population will then start falling.

BackgroundAccording to the Seventh National Census, China’s fertility rate is less than 1.5, marking a significant national issue with potential risks. To counter this low birth rate, the Chinese government has relaxed family planning policies and introduced supportive measures.PurposeChanges in birth policy have attracted considerable attention from the people of China. This article aims to study the public’s response to the three-child support policy using Weibo as a window. The goal is to provide a more balanced evaluation of current perspectives, enabling policymakers to formulate better fertility information, particularly when anticipating a poor public response to controversial policies.MethodologyThis research uses a crawler to gather data from Sina Weibo. Through opinion mining of Weibo posts on the three-child policy, Weibo users’ online opinions on the three-child policy are analyzed from two perspectives: their attention content and sentiment tendency. Using an interrupted time series, it examines changes in online views on the policy, matching policy documents to the time nodes of Weibo posts.FindingsThe public has shown great interest in and provided short-term positive feedback on policies related to improving maternity insurance, birth rewards, and housing subsidies. In contrast, there has been a continuous negative response to policies such as extending maternity leave, which has particularly sparked concerns among women regarding future employment and marital rights protection. On social media, the public’s attention to the three-child birth policy has focused mainly on the protection of women’s rights, especially legal rights after childbirth, and issues related to physical and mental health. Child-rearing support and economic pressure are also hot topics, involving the daily expenses of multichild families, childcare services, and housing pressure. However, this study also revealed that infertile or single women express a strong desire to have children, but due to limitations in the personal medical insurance system, this desire has not been fully satisfied.ContributionsOur study demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid and flexible method for evaluating the public response to various three-child supportive policies in China using near real-time social media data. This information can help policy makers anticipate public responses to future pandemic three-child policies and ensure that adequate resources are dedicated to addressing increases in negative sentiment and levels of disagreement in the face of scientifically informed but controversial, restrictions.

In 2025, there are six countries, all in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the average woman of childbearing age can expect to have between 5-6 children throughout their lifetime. In fact, of the 20 countries in the world with the highest fertility rates, Afghanistan and Yemen are the only countries not found in Sub-Saharan Africa. High fertility rates in Africa With a fertility rate of almost six children per woman, Chad is the country with the highest fertility rate in the world. Population growth in Chad is among the highest in the world. Lack of healthcare access, as well as food instability, political instability, and climate change, are all exacerbating conditions that keep Chad's infant mortality rates high, which is generally the driver behind high fertility rates. This situation is common across much of the continent, and, although there has been considerable progress in recent decades, development in Sub-Saharan Africa is not moving as quickly as it did in other regions. Demographic transition While these countries have the highest fertility rates in the world, their rates are all on a generally downward trajectory due to a phenomenon known as the demographic transition. The third stage (of five) of this transition sees birth rates drop in response to decreased infant and child mortality, as families no longer feel the need to compensate for lost children. Eventually, fertility rates fall below replacement level (approximately 2.1 children per woman), which eventually leads to natural population decline once life expectancy plateaus. In some of the most developed countries today, low fertility rates are creating severe econoic and societal challenges as workforces are shrinking while aging populations are placin a greater burden on both public and personal resources.

BackgroundAccording to the Seventh National Census, China’s fertility rate is less than 1.5, marking a significant national issue with potential risks. To counter this low birth rate, the Chinese government has relaxed family planning policies and introduced supportive measures.PurposeChanges in birth policy have attracted considerable attention from the people of China. This article aims to study the public’s response to the three-child support policy using Weibo as a window. The goal is to provide a more balanced evaluation of current perspectives, enabling policymakers to formulate better fertility information, particularly when anticipating a poor public response to controversial policies.MethodologyThis research uses a crawler to gather data from Sina Weibo. Through opinion mining of Weibo posts on the three-child policy, Weibo users’ online opinions on the three-child policy are analyzed from two perspectives: their attention content and sentiment tendency. Using an interrupted time series, it examines changes in online views on the policy, matching policy documents to the time nodes of Weibo posts.FindingsThe public has shown great interest in and provided short-term positive feedback on policies related to improving maternity insurance, birth rewards, and housing subsidies. In contrast, there has been a continuous negative response to policies such as extending maternity leave, which has particularly sparked concerns among women regarding future employment and marital rights protection. On social media, the public’s attention to the three-child birth policy has focused mainly on the protection of women’s rights, especially legal rights after childbirth, and issues related to physical and mental health. Child-rearing support and economic pressure are also hot topics, involving the daily expenses of multichild families, childcare services, and housing pressure. However, this study also revealed that infertile or single women express a strong desire to have children, but due to limitations in the personal medical insurance system, this desire has not been fully satisfied.ContributionsOur study demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid and flexible method for evaluating the public response to various three-child supportive policies in China using near real-time social media data. This information can help policy makers anticipate public responses to future pandemic three-child policies and ensure that adequate resources are dedicated to addressing increases in negative sentiment and levels of disagreement in the face of scientifically informed but controversial, restrictions.

Many places around the world have experienced population growth in the past decade and even population decline due to the COVID pandemic. According to worldometer’s current statistics the global population continues to thrive reaching a little over 8 billion and still growing. Although, Kazakhstan only ranks 64 we can see that they have a decent 1.21 percent yearly change with the net change being about 225,000 to the total of 19 million. When we look at their 2021 stats from Our World in Data for birth rates and death rates per 1,000 people, we can see that they are still a growing population as the birth rate (21.54) is double the death rate (10.23). Birthrates measure the number of births in a population by using a percentage or a ratio per 1,000 people and Death rates measure using the same methods (Marston, Knox, Liverman, Del Casino, Robbins, 2019, p. 39). Not only does this contribute to the growing population, but groups of people who weren’t living there whose ethnicity is from Kazakhstan are moving back into their home country. Ethnicity is defined as a “state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition; socially created system of rules about who belongs to a particular group” (Marston, Knox, Liverman, Del Casino, Robbins, 2019, p. 36). Population growth isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as it is sustainable, but for Kazakhstan population growth can be dangerous as generally they have been struggling with basic economic rights and are being directed to the northern region.

Costly reproductive competition among females is predicted to lead to strategies that reduce these costs, such as reproductive schedules. Simultaneous births of co-resident women in human families can reduce their infant survival, but whether such competition also affects overall birth rates and whether females time their pregnancies to avoid simultaneous births remain unknown, despite being key questions for understanding how intra-female competition affects reproductive strategies. Here, we used detailed parish registers to study female reproductive competition in historical Finnish joint –families, where brothers stayed on their natal farms and sisters married out, and consequently unrelated daughters-in-law often co-resided and competed for household resources. We quantified the time-varying effects of having reproductive-aged competitor(s) on a woman’s interval from marriage to first childbirth, on age-specific fertility, and on birth scheduling. Contrary to our hypothesis, the presence of one or several potential female competitors did not lead to longer first birth intervals or lower age-specific probability of reproduction. We also found no evidence that women would schedule their reproduction to avoid the real cost of simultaneous births on their offspring mortality risk; age-specific reproductive rates were unaltered by changes in the presence of other infants in the household. These results raise interesting questions regarding the evolution of fertility suppression in social mammals in different contexts, the costs and benefits of extended families for female reproductive success and strategies deployed, and the cultural practices that may help to avoid the negative outcomes of female reproductive competition in human families.

The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. In the United States in 1800, the average woman of childbearing age would have seven children over the course of their lifetime. As factors such as technology, hygiene, medicine and education improved, women were having fewer children than before, reaching just two children per woman in 1940. This changed quite dramatically in the aftermath of the Second World War, rising sharply to over 3.5 children per woman in 1960 (children born between 1946 and 1964 are nowadays known as the 'Baby Boomer' generation, and they make up roughly twenty percent of todays US population). Due to the end of the baby boom and increased access to contraception, fertility reached it's lowest point in the US in 1980, where it was just 1.77. It did however rise to over two children per woman between 1995 and 2010, although it is expected to drop again by 2020, to just 1.78.

In 2023, the birth rate among teenagers and young adult women aged 15 to 19 stood at 13.1 births per every thousand women. This statistic shows the U.S. birth rate among teenagers and young adult women, aged 15-19 years, between 1991 and 2023. Teenage pregnancy and birth Teenage pregnancy and births are related to a number of negative outcomes. Babies born to teenage mothers are more likely to be premature and have a low birth weight, and teen mothers often experience gestational hypertension and anemia. Additionally, there are significant adverse effects on socioeconomic and educational outcomes for teenage parents. Teenage pregnancy is usually unplanned and due to the negative consequences mentioned above the ratio of legal abortions to live births in the United States is highest among teenagers. In 2022, there were 374 legal abortions per 1,000 live births among girls and young women aged 15 to 19 years, compared a ratio of 284 legal abortions per 1,000 live births among women aged 20 to 24 years. Contraceptive use among teens Contraceptive use is the best way for sexually active teenagers to avoid unwanted pregnancies, but use and accessibility remain problems in the United States. In 2021, only 23 percent of high school girls in the U.S. used the birth control pill to prevent pregnancy before their last sexual intercourse. Use of the birth control pill to prevent pregnancy is highest among white teenagers and lowest among Black teenagers, with only 11 percent of Black teenagers reporting use in 2021. Condom use is more common among high school students, but still only around half of sexually active students reported using a condom during their last sexual intercourse in 2021.

BackgroundKawasaki disease (KD) is a common cause of acquired paediatric heart disease in developed countries. KD was first identified in the 1960s in Japan, and has been steadily increasing since it was first reported. The aetiology of KD has not been defined, but is assumed to be infection-related. The present study sought to identify the factor(s) that mediate the geographical variation and chronological increase of KD in Japan.Methods and FindingsBased upon data reported between 1979 and 2010 from all 47 prefectures in Japan, the incidence and mean patient age at the onset of KD were estimated. Using spatial and time-series analyses, incidence and mean age were regressed against climatic/socioeconomic variables. Both incidence and mean age of KD were inversely correlated with the total fertility rate (TFR; i.e., the number of children that would be born to one woman). The extrapolation of a time-series regressive model suggested that KD emerged in the 1960s because of a dramatic decrease in TFR in the 1940s through the 1950s.ConclusionsMean patient age is an inverse surrogate for the hazard of contracting the aetiologic agent. Therefore, the observed negative correlation between mean patient age and TFR suggests that a higher TFR is associated with KD transmission. This relationship may be because a higher TFR facilitates sibling-to-sibling transmission. Additionally, the observed inverse correlation between incidence and TFR implies a paradoxical “negative” correlation between the incidence and the hazard of contracting the aetiologic agent. It was hypothesized that a decreasing TFR resulted in a reduced hazard of contracting the agent for KD, thereby increasing KD incidence.

Topics related to the three-child policy in media reports.

Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women had the highest fertility rate of any ethnicity in the United States in 2022, with about 2,237.5 births per 1,000 women. The fertility rate for all ethnicities in the U.S. was 1,656.5 births per 1,000 women. What is the total fertility rate? The total fertility rate is an estimation of the number of children who would theoretically be born per 1,000 women through their childbearing years (generally considered to be between the ages of 15 and 44) according to age-specific fertility rates. The fertility rate is different from the birth rate, in that the birth rate is the number of births in relation to the population over a specific period of time. Fertility rates around the world Fertility rates around the world differ on a country-by-country basis, and more industrialized countries tend to see lower fertility rates. For example, Niger topped the list of the countries with the highest fertility rates, and Taiwan had the lowest fertility rate.

Live births in the UK by area of usual residence of mother. The tables contain summary data for local authorities and local health boards (within Wales) including figures by age of mother.

Background : Substantial differences between countries were observed in terms of Covid-19 death tolls during the past two years. It was of interest to find out how the epidemiologic and/or demographic history of the population may have had a role in the high prevalence of the Covid-19 in some countries. Objective : This observational study aimed to investigate possible relations between Covid-19 death numbers in 39 countries and the prepandemic history of epidemiologic and demographic conditions. Methods : We sought the Covid-19 death toll in 39 countries in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. Records (2019) of epidemiologic (Cancer, Alzheimer's disease) and demographic (natality, mortality, and fetility rates, percentage of people aged 65 and over) parameters as well as data on alcohol intake per capita were retrieved from official web pages. Data was analysed by simple linear or polynomial regression by the mean of Microsoft Excell software (2016). Results : When Covid-19 death numbers were plotted against the geographic latitude of each country, a bell-shaped curve was obtained for both the first and second years (coefficient of determination R2=0.38) of the pandemic. In a similar manner, bell-shaped curves were obtained when latitudes were plotted against the scores of (cancer plus Alzheimer's disease, R² = 0,65,), the percentage of advanced age (R² = 0,52,) and the alcohol intake level (R² = 0,64,). Covid-19 death numbers were positively correlated to the scores of (cancer plus Alzheimer's disease) (R2= 0.41, P= 1.61x10-5), advanced age (R2= 0.38, P= 4.09x10-5) and alcohol intake (R2= 0.48, P= 1.55x10-6). Instead, inverted bell-shaped curves were obtained when latitudes were plotted against the birth rate/mortality rate ratio (R² = 0,51) and the fetility rate (R² = 0,33). In addition, Covid-19 deaths were negatively correlated with the birth rate/mortality rate ratio (R2= 0.67) and fertility rate (R2= 0.50). Conclusion : The results show that the 39 countries in both hemisphers in this study have different patterns of epidemiologic and demographic factors, and that the negative history of epidemiologic and demographic factors of the northern hemisphere countries, as well as their high alcohol intake, were very correlated with their Covid-19 death tolls. Hence, also nutritional habits may have had a role in the general health status of people in regard to their immunity against the coronavirus.

BackgroundThe birth rate is an important indicator of the health of the population. However, persistently low birth rate has become a pressing demographic challenge for many countries, including China. This has significant implications for sustainable population planning.MethodsThis study applied hot spot analysis and the spatiotemporal geographically weighted regression (GTWR) modeling, used panel data of 286 cities in China from 2012 to 2021 to explore the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the relationship between the socioeconomic development and birth rate.ResultsThe research has found that 2017 was an important turning point in China’s demographic transition. The hot spot analysis reveals that the birth rate hot spots are characterized by a multipolar kernel distribution, shifting from spatial diffusion to convergence, with the cold spots mainly located in the northeast. And the GTWR modeling found that the relationship between socioeconomic development and birth rate varies and change dynamically over space and time. Key findings include: (1) the negative impact of GDP per capita on birth rates has intensified; (2) housing prices exhibit both wealth and crowding-out effects on birth rates, and there are obvious regional differences between the north and the south; (3) fiscal education expenditure on birth rates has the most pronounced income effect in the eastern region.ConclusionThis study adopts spatiotemporal perspective to reveal the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the association between socioeconomic development and birth rate. It provides new evidence on the influence of macro factors on fertility in China. And emphasizes the importance of incorporating regional variations into population policy design.

BackgroundAccording to the Seventh National Census, China’s fertility rate is less than 1.5, marking a significant national issue with potential risks. To counter this low birth rate, the Chinese government has relaxed family planning policies and introduced supportive measures.PurposeChanges in birth policy have attracted considerable attention from the people of China. This article aims to study the public’s response to the three-child support policy using Weibo as a window. The goal is to provide a more balanced evaluation of current perspectives, enabling policymakers to formulate better fertility information, particularly when anticipating a poor public response to controversial policies.MethodologyThis research uses a crawler to gather data from Sina Weibo. Through opinion mining of Weibo posts on the three-child policy, Weibo users’ online opinions on the three-child policy are analyzed from two perspectives: their attention content and sentiment tendency. Using an interrupted time series, it examines changes in online views on the policy, matching policy documents to the time nodes of Weibo posts.FindingsThe public has shown great interest in and provided short-term positive feedback on policies related to improving maternity insurance, birth rewards, and housing subsidies. In contrast, there has been a continuous negative response to policies such as extending maternity leave, which has particularly sparked concerns among women regarding future employment and marital rights protection. On social media, the public’s attention to the three-child birth policy has focused mainly on the protection of women’s rights, especially legal rights after childbirth, and issues related to physical and mental health. Child-rearing support and economic pressure are also hot topics, involving the daily expenses of multichild families, childcare services, and housing pressure. However, this study also revealed that infertile or single women express a strong desire to have children, but due to limitations in the personal medical insurance system, this desire has not been fully satisfied.ContributionsOur study demonstrates the feasibility of a rapid and flexible method for evaluating the public response to various three-child supportive policies in China using near real-time social media data. This information can help policy makers anticipate public responses to future pandemic three-child policies and ensure that adequate resources are dedicated to addressing increases in negative sentiment and levels of disagreement in the face of scientifically informed but controversial, restrictions.

This is a publication on maternity activity in English NHS hospitals. This report examines data relating to delivery and birth episodes in 2022-23, and the booking appointments for these deliveries. This annual publication covers the financial year ending March 2023. Data is included from both the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data warehouse and the Maternity Services Data Set (MSDS). HES contains records of all admissions, appointments and attendances for patients admitted to NHS hospitals in England. The HES data used in this publication are called 'delivery episodes'. The MSDS collects records of each stage of the maternity service care pathway in NHS-funded maternity services, and includes information not recorded in HES. The MSDS is a maturing, national-level dataset. In April 2019 the MSDS transitioned to a new version of the dataset. This version, MSDS v2.0, is an update that introduced a new structure and content - including clinical terminology, in order to meet current clinical practice and incorporate new requirements. It is designed to meet requirements that resulted from the National Maternity Review, which led to the publication of the Better Births report in February 2016. This is the fourth publication of data from MSDS v2.0 and data from 2019-20 onwards is not directly comparable to data from previous years. This publication shows the number of HES delivery episodes during the period, with a number of breakdowns including by method of onset of labour, delivery method and place of delivery. It also shows the number of MSDS deliveries recorded during the period, with breakdowns including the baby's first feed type, birthweight, place of birth, and breastfeeding activity; and the mothers' ethnicity and age at booking. There is also data available in a separate file on breastfeeding at 6 to 8 weeks. The count of Total Babies includes both live and still births, and previous changes to how Total Babies and Total Deliveries were calculated means that comparisons between 2019-20 MSDS data and later years should be made with care. Information on how all measures are constructed can be found in the HES Metadata and MSDS Metadata files provided below. In this publication we have also included an interactive Power BI dashboard to enable users to explore key NHS Maternity Statistics measures. The purpose of this publication is to inform and support strategic and policy-led processes for the benefit of patient care. This report will also be of interest to researchers, journalists and members of the public interested in NHS hospital activity in England. Any feedback on this publication or dashboard can be provided to enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, under the subject “NHS Maternity Statistics”.