Niger had the highest birth rate in the world in 2024, with a birth rate of 46.6 births per 1,000 inhabitants. Angola, Benin, Mali, and Uganda followed. Except for Afghanistan, all the 20 countries with the highest birth rates in the world were located in Sub-Saharan Africa. High infant mortality The reasons behind the high birth rates in many Sub-Saharan African countries are manyfold, but a major reason is that infant mortality remains high on the continent, despite decreasing steadily over the past decades, resulting in high birth rates to counter death rates. Moreover, many nations in Sub-Saharan Africa are highly reliant on small-scale farming, meaning that more hands are of importance. Additionally, polygamy is not uncommon in the region, and having many children is often seen as a symbol of status. Fastest growing populations As the high fertility rates coincide with decreasing death rates, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have the highest population growth rates in the world. As a result, with Africa's population forecast to increase from 1.4 billion in 2022 to over 3.9 billion by 2100.

In the United States, the crude birth rate in 1800 was 48.3 live births per thousand people, meaning that 4.8 percent of the population had been born in that year. Between 1815 and 1825 the crude birth rate jumped from 46.5 to 54.7 (possibly due to Florida becoming a part of the US, but this is unclear), but from this point until the Second World War the crude birth rate dropped gradually, reaching 19.2 in 1935. Through the 1940s, 50s and 60s the US experienced it's baby boom, and the birth rate reached 24.1 in 1955, before dropping again until 1980. From the 1980s until today the birth rate's decline has slowed, and is expected to reach twelve in 2020, meaning that just over 1 percent of the population will be born in 2020.

Over the past decade, the birth rate in Italy has constantly decreased – in 2024, 6.3 children were estimated to be born per 1,000 inhabitants, three infants less than in 2002. The region with the highest birth rate in the country was Trentino-South Tyrol, where 7.6 children were born per 1,000 residents. Italian mothers are older and older Similar to citizens of other European countries, Italians also postpone parenthood to a later age. While the average age of an Italian mother at childbirth in the 1990s was 29.9 years, in 2024 females giving birth were roughly 32.6 years. Italy, a country with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world If compared with the fertility rates around the world, Italy was one of the 20 countries which registered the lowest fertility rate in 2024. The leader of the global ranking was Taiwan, where only 1.11 babies were born per woman.

Number and percentage of live births, by month of birth, 1991 to most recent year.

In Russia, the crude birth rate in 1840 was just over 48 live births per thousand people, meaning that approximately 4.8 percent of the population had been born in that year. Throughout the nineteenth century, Russia's crude birth rate remained between 48 and 52, and fell to 43.4 in the late 1920s. From 1930 to 1945, the Soviet Union's crude birth rate dropped greatly, from 43.4 to 18.2, as a result of the Second World War (although it did increase in the late 1930s, in the early stages of the war). Russia did experience a baby boom after the war, and the birth rate did not fall to its pre-war level gain until the late 1960s. From 1970, the birth rate increased slightly to 16.2 in 1990, before the end of communism and dissolution of the Soviet Union caused the crude birth rate to fall to its lowest recorded level over the next decade, to 8.9 in 2000. Since the turn of the millennium, the crude birth rate of Russia has increased steadily, and was expected to be 12.8 in 2020.

In Sweden, the crude birth rate in 1800 was just under 29 live births per thousand people, meaning that roughly 2.9 percent of the population had been born in that year. In the nineteenth century, Sweden experienced various population-influencing events, such as separate wars with Norway and Russia, several smallpox epidemics, mass migration to the US, and industrialization. In this time, the crude birth rate fluctuated between 27 and 36 births per thousand. Between 1875 and 1935 this rate decreased consistently from 30.7 to 14.1. Sweden's crude birth rate stopped falling around the time of the Second World War, and rose to almost nineteen in 1945, before plateauing in the mid-teens between 1955 and 1970, where the decline then resumed. There was another brief increase during the late 1980s and 90s, however these numbers then dropped to their lowest recorded figure of 10.4 in the year 2000, and in 2020 the crude birth rate of Sweden is expected to be just under twelve births per thousand people.

In France, the crude birth rate in 1800 was 29.4 live births per thousand people, meaning that 2.9 percent of the population had been born in that year. In the first half of the nineteenth century France's crude birth rate dropped from it's highest recorded level of 29.4 in 1800, to 21.9 by 1850. In the second half of the 1800s the crude birth rate rose again, to 25.5 in 1875, as the Second Republic and Second Empire were established, which was a time of economic prosperity and the modernization of the country. From then until 1910 there was a gradual decline, until the First World War caused a huge decline, resulting in a record low crude birth rate of 13.3 by 1920 (the figures for individual years fell even lower than this). The figure then bounced back in the early 1920s, before then falling again until the Second World War. After the war, France experienced a baby boom, where the crude birth rate reached 22.2, before it dropped again until the 1980s, and since then it has declined slowly. The crude birth rate of France is expected to reach a new, record low of 11.2 in 2020.

Live births and stillbirths annual summary statistics, by sex, age of mother, whether within marriage or civil partnership, percentage of non-UK-born mothers, birth rates and births by month and mothers' area of usual residence.

The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. In Germany in 1800, the average woman of childbearing age would have 5.4 children over the course of their lifetime. It remained around this number until the late 1820s, when it then dropped to just under five, which was a long-term effect of the Napoleonic Period in Europe. From this point until the end of the nineteenth century, Germany's fertility rate was rather sporadic, reaching it's lowest point in 1855 with an average of 4.6 births per woman, and it's highest point in 1875 (just after the foundation of the German Empire in 1871), with an average of 5.4 live births per woman. From the beginning of the twentieth century until the end of the Second World War, Germany's fertility rate dropped from around 5 children per woman in 1900, to 1.9 in 1945. The only time where the fertility rate increased was in the inter-war years. Like other countries heavily involved in the Second World War, Germany (both East and West) experienced a Baby Boom from the late 1940s to the late 1960s, however it then dropped to it's lowest point of just 1.3 children per woman by 1995, shortly after the re-unification of Germany. In recent years, Germany's fertility rate has gradually been increasing again, and is expected to reach 1.6 in 2020, its highest rate in over forty years.

A computerized data set of demographic, economic and social data for 227 countries of the world. Information presented includes population, health, nutrition, mortality, fertility, family planning and contraceptive use, literacy, housing, and economic activity data. Tabular data are broken down by such variables as age, sex, and urban/rural residence. Data are organized as a series of statistical tables identified by country and table number. Each record consists of the data values associated with a single row of a given table. There are 105 tables with data for 208 countries. The second file is a note file, containing text of notes associated with various tables. These notes provide information such as definitions of categories (i.e. urban/rural) and how various values were calculated. The IDB was created in the U.S. Census Bureau''s International Programs Center (IPC) to help IPC staff meet the needs of organizations that sponsor IPC research. The IDB provides quick access to specialized information, with emphasis on demographic measures, for individual countries or groups of countries. The IDB combines data from country sources (typically censuses and surveys) with IPC estimates and projections to provide information dating back as far as 1950 and as far ahead as 2050. Because the IDB is maintained as a research tool for IPC sponsor requirements, the amount of information available may vary by country. As funding and research activity permit, the IPC updates and expands the data base content. Types of data include: * Population by age and sex * Vital rates, infant mortality, and life tables * Fertility and child survivorship * Migration * Marital status * Family planning Data characteristics: * Temporal: Selected years, 1950present, projected demographic data to 2050. * Spatial: 227 countries and areas. * Resolution: National population, selected data by urban/rural * residence, selected data by age and sex. Sources of data include: * U.S. Census Bureau * International projects (e.g., the Demographic and Health Survey) * United Nations agencies Links: * ICPSR: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/08490

The declining birth rate is one of the world’s major challenges. There is much literature on birth rate research in China. However, there are few studies on spatial distribution and influencing factors of birth rate in the Yangtze River Basin. In this study, data from 11 regions of the Yangtze River Basin from 2006 to 2023 were used to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of birth rates using GIS spatial visualization and four-quadrant diagram. At the same time, 13 factors affecting birth rates were combined to carry out research. The results show that: (1) In 2023, five regions reported birth rates above 7‰, with Tibet faring the best, while six regions had rates below 7‰, with Hunan being the least favorable. (2) The first type of birth rate area shows a process of slow increase—slight decrease—accelerated growth—rapid decrease; the second type of birth rate area shows a process of gradual decrease—moderate increase—rapid decrease—rapid increase—rapid decrease; the third type of birth rate area has increased rapidly since 2021. The three types of birth rate areas show the characteristics of the spatiotemporal pattern of continuous spread and development. (3) The aging rate, per capita GDP, proportion of primary industry output value, proportion of tertiary industry output value, female illiteracy rate, per capita disposable income, per capita consumption expenditure, urbanization rate, proportion of higher education, juvenile dependency ratio, and elderly dependency ratio have different degrees of influence on the birth rate.

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 fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. In 1930, China's fertility rate was 5.5 children per woman, and this number then dropped to just under five over the next fifteen years, as China experienced a civil war and the Second World War. The fertility rate rose rather quickly after this to over 6.1 in 1955, before dropping again in the late 1950s, as Chairman Mao's 'Great Leap Forward' failed to industrialize the nation, and resulted in widespread famine that killed an estimated 45 million people. In the decade following this, China's fertility rate reached it's highest level in 1970, before the implementation of the two-child policy in the 1970s, and the one-child policy** in the 1980s, which radically changed the population structure. The fertility rate fell to an all time low in the early 2000s, where it was just 1.6 children per woman. However this number has increased to 1.7 today, and the two-child policy was reintroduced in 2016, replacing the one-child policy that had been effective for over 36 years.

BackgroundDespite the sharp decline in global under-5 deaths since 1990, uneven progress has been achieved across and within countries. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for child mortality were met only by a few countries. Valid concerns exist as to whether the region would meet new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for under-5 mortality. We therefore examine further sources of variation by assessing age patterns, trends, and forecasts of mortality rates.Methods and findingsData came from 106 nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) with full birth histories from 31 SSA countries from 1990 to 2017 (a total of 524 country-years of data). We assessed the distribution of age at death through the following new demographic analyses. First, we used a direct method and full birth histories to estimate under-5 mortality rates (U5MRs) on a monthly basis. Second, we smoothed raw estimates of death rates by age and time by using a two-dimensional P-Spline approach. Third, a variant of the Lee–Carter (LC) model, designed for populations with limited data, was used to fit and forecast age profiles of mortality. We used mortality estimates from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) to adjust, validate, and minimize the risk of bias in survival, truncation, and recall in mortality estimation. Our mortality model revealed substantive declines of death rates at every age in most countries but with notable differences in the age patterns over time. U5MRs declined from 3.3% (annual rate of reduction [ARR] 0.1%) in Lesotho to 76.4% (ARR 5.2%) in Malawi, and the pace of decline was faster on average (ARR 3.2%) than that observed for infant (IMRs) (ARR 2.7%) and neonatal (NMRs) (ARR 2.0%) mortality rates. We predict that 5 countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda) are on track to achieve the under-5 sustainable development target by 2030 (25 deaths per 1,000 live births), but only Rwanda and Tanzania would meet both the neonatal (12 deaths per 1,000 live births) and under-5 targets simultaneously. Our predicted NMRs and U5MRs were in line with those estimated by the UN IGME by 2030 and 2050 (they overlapped in 27/31 countries for NMRs and 22 for U5MRs) and by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) by 2030 (26/31 and 23/31, respectively). This study has a number of limitations, including poor data quality issues that reflected bias in the report of births and deaths, preventing reliable estimates and predictions from a few countries.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this study is the first to combine full birth histories and mortality estimates from external reliable sources to model age patterns of under-5 mortality across time in SSA. We demonstrate that countries with a rapid pace of mortality reduction (ARR ≥ 3.2%) across ages would be more likely to achieve the SDG mortality targets. However, the lower pace of neonatal mortality reduction would prevent most countries from achieving those targets: 2 countries would reach them by 2030, 13 between 2030 and 2050, and 13 after 2050.

In 2024, the mortality rate in China ranged at approximately 7.76 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants. The mortality rate in China displayed an uneven development over the last two decades. This is mainly related to the very uneven sizes of Chinese age groups, improvements in health care, and the occurrence of epidemics. However, an overall growing trend is undisputable and related to China's aging population. As the share of the population aged 60 and above will be growing significantly over the upcoming two decades, the mortality rate will further increase in the years ahead. Population in China China was the second most populous country in the world in 2024. However, due to several mechanisms put into place by the Chinese government as well as changing circumstances in the working and social environment of the Chinese people, population growth has subsided over the past decades and finally turned negative in 2022. The major factor for this development was a set of policies introduced by the Chinese government in 1979, including the so-called one-child policy, which was intended to improve people’s living standards by limiting the population growth. However, with the decreasing birth rate and slower population growth, China nowadays is facing the problems of a rapidly aging population. Birth control in China According to the one-child policy, a married couple was only allowed to have one child. Only under certain circumstances were parents allowed to have a second child. As the performance of family control had long been related to the assessment of local government’s achievements, violations of the rule were severely punished. The birth control in China led to a decreasing birth rate and a more skewed gender ratio of new births due to a widely preference for male children in the Chinese society. Nowadays, since China’s population is aging rapidly, the one-child policy has been re-considered as an obstacle for the country’s further economic development. Since 2014, the one-child policy has been gradually relaxed and fully eliminated at the end of 2015. In May 2021, a new three-child policy has been introduced. However, many young Chinese people today are not willing to have more children due to high costs of raising a child, especially in urban areas.

In 2024, around **** million babies were born in China. The number of births has increased slightly from **** million in the previous year, but is much lower than the ***** million births recorded in 2016. Demographic development in China In 2022, the Chinese population decreased for the first time in decades, and population decline is expected to accelerate in the upcoming years. To curb the negative effects of an aging population, the Chinese government decided in 2013 to gradually relax the so called one-child-policy, which had been in effect since 1979. From 2016 onwards, parents in China were allowed to have two children in general. However, as the recent figures of births per year reveal, this policy change had only short-term effects on the general birth rate: the number of births slightly increased from 2014 onwards, but then started to fell again in 2018. In 2024, China was the second most populous country in the world, overtaken by India that year. China’s aging population The Chinese society is aging rapidly and facing a serious demographic shift towards older age groups. The median age of China’s population has increased massively from about ** years in 1970 to **** years in 2020 and is projected to rise continuously until 2080. In 2020, approximately **** percent of the Chinese were 60 years and older, a figure that is forecast to rise as high as ** percent by 2060. This shift in demographic development will increase social and elderly support expenditure of the society as a whole. One measure for this social imbalance is the old-age dependency ratio, measuring the relationship between economic dependent older age groups and the working-age population. The old-age dependency ratio in China is expected to soar to ** percent in 2060, implying that by then three working-age persons will have to support two elderly persons.

In 2022, India overtook China as the world's most populous country and now has almost 1.46 billion people. China now has the second-largest population in the world, still with just over 1.4 billion inhabitants, however, its population went into decline in 2023. Global population As of 2025, the world's population stands at almost 8.2 billion people and is expected to reach around 10.3 billion people in the 2080s, when it will then go into decline. Due to improved healthcare, sanitation, and general living conditions, the global population continues to increase; mortality rates (particularly among infants and children) are decreasing and the median age of the world population has steadily increased for decades. As for the average life expectancy in industrial and developing countries, the gap has narrowed significantly since the mid-20th century. Asia is the most populous continent on Earth; 11 of the 20 largest countries are located there. It leads the ranking of the global population by continent by far, reporting four times as many inhabitants as Africa. The Demographic Transition The population explosion over the past two centuries is part of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition. Simply put, this transition results from a drastic reduction in mortality, which then leads to a reduction in fertility, and increase in life expectancy; this interim period where death rates are low and birth rates are high is where this population explosion occurs, and population growth can remain high as the population ages. In today's most-developed countries, the transition generally began with industrialization in the 1800s, and growth has now stabilized as birth and mortality rates have re-balanced. Across less-developed countries, the stage of this transition varies; for example, China is at a later stage than India, which accounts for the change in which country is more populous - understanding the demographic transition can help understand the reason why China's population is now going into decline. The least-developed region is Sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility rates remain close to pre-industrial levels in some countries. As these countries transition, they will undergo significant rates of population growth

Between 1939 and 1950, the Soviet Union's fertility rate underwent the most drastic change of all the major Allied Powers; falling from 4.9 births per woman in 1939 to just 1.7 births in 1943. In Russia alone, this decline was even greater, falling from 4.9 to 1.3 births in the same time period. After the war's conclusion in 1945, there was an observable increase in fertility in all the given countries, and this marked beginning of the global baby boom of the mid-twentieth century.

The 1970 National Fertility Survey (NFS) was the second in a series of three surveys that followed the Growth of American Families surveys (1955 and 1960) aimed at examining marital fertility and family planning in the United States. Women were queried on the following main topics: residence history, age and race, family background, pregnancies, abortions and miscarriages, marriage history, education, employment and income, religion, use of family planning clinics, current and past birth control pill use and other methods of contraception, sterility, ideals regarding childbearing, attitudes and opinions with respect to abortion, gender roles, sterilization and world population, and birth histories. Respondents were asked to give residence histories for themselves and their husbands. Specifically, they were asked about the state they grew up in, whether they had lived with both parents, whether they had lived on a farm growing up, and whether they were currently living on a farm. Respondents were asked to give their date of birth, current age and race, as well as that of their husband. Regarding family background, respondents were asked how many brothers and sisters that they had, whether their siblings were older or younger, and whether there were any twins in the family. Additionally, respondents were asked to summarize their pregnancy history by giving information with respect to total number of pregnancies, live births, miscarriages, and abortions. Regarding abortions, respondents also were asked to give the date of the abortion and if they had used any family planning techniques prior to the abortion. Respondents were queried about their marriage history, specifically they were asked whether this was their first marriage, whether it was their spouse's first marriage, and their total number of marriages. If previously married, respondents were asked about the dates of past marriages and reasons for the marriage ending (e.g., death, divorce, or annulment). Respondents were asked a series of questions about both their own and their spouse's education including number of grades completed, current educational status, schooling completed after marriage, highest grade completed, and highest grade the respondent and spouse hoped to complete. All respondents were queried about their own and their husband's employment situations, as well as their household income. Respondents were asked about employment prior to and after marriage, employment after the birth of their first child, reasons for working, future employment expectations, earned income for both the respondent and husband in 1970, and other sources of income. There was also a series of questions on religion including religious preferences growing up, current religious preferences, and the importance of religion for both the respondent and her husband. Respondents were asked whether they had ever been to a family planning clinic, whether methods of family planning were discussed with a doctor or other medically trained person, whether this had taken place in the last 12 months, and if not, when the last time was. Several questions were devoted to the respondent's current and past use of the birth control pill and other methods of contraception such as the IUD and the diaphragm. Specifically, respondents were asked how they obtained the method of contraception for the first time, whether the respondent had sought methods of contraception from a doctor, and whether they had discussed with a doctor problems related to the methods of contraception. Respondents were asked why they used the pill and other methods of contraception, why they had stopped using a particular method, whether the methods were being used for family planning, and during what intervals the methods were used. Respondents also were asked questions about sterility including whether they were able to have children, whether they or their husband had undergone a sterilization operation, and if so, what kind of operation it was, the motive for having such an operation, whether the respondent had arrived at menopause, and if they had seen a doctor if they were unable to have a baby. They were also asked about their ideals with respect to children including their ideal number of children, the ideal number of boys and girls, as well as the ideal age for having their first and last child. The survey also sough

Between 1939 and 1950, Japan's annual fertility rate fluctuated between 3.1 and 4.4 births per woman, before spiking to 4.6 in 1947. This was the highest of the Axis powers listed, as European figures were generally much lower at this point in history. The increase in fertility that followed the Second World War was part of the global baby boom of the mid-twentieth century.