Definition: This entry gives a figure for the average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to a given fertility rate at each age. The total fertility rate (TFR) is a more direct measure of the level of fertility than the crude birth rate, since it refers to births per woman. This indicator shows the potential for population change in the country. A rate of two children per woman is considered the replacement rate for a population, resulting in relative stability in terms of total numbers. Rates above two children indicate populations growing in size and whose median age is declining. Higher rates may also indicate difficulties for families, in some situations, to feed and educate their children and for women to enter the labor force. Rates below two children indicate populations decreasing in size and growing older. Global fertility rates are in general decline and this trend is most pronounced in industrialized countries, especially Western Europe, where populations are projected to decline dramatically over the next 50 years.
Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of January 1, 2012
See also: Total fertility rate mapRelated News
All my children: How soap operas helped end high fertility rates
Houston Chronicle - 5/15/2013 2:25:07 PM
One of the strongest correlations he found was between TV ownership, by region, and total fertility rate. But, he notes, the correlation was far from perfect. In fact, the best correlation was found between the percentage of women exposed to media ...
Declining fertility rate the biggest threat to America?
FOX News - 5/10/2013 11:56:33 PM
And all viewed as threats to American life as we know it but what if the greatest man -- To the -- United States is us and our declining population my guess this week says that the nation's falling fertility rate is the root cause of many of our problems.
Fertility Rate Linked to Television Ownership and Media Exposure
Med India - 5/14/2013 4:20:50 PM
Martin Lewis analyzed the changing birth rates of nations and compared them with television ... stating that the map that displays prevalence of television ownership in the country is very similar to the fertility map. Dr Lewis added that ...
TV Linked with Falling Birth Rates
LiveScience - 5/13/2013 5:33:37 PM
Birth rates around the world. The replacement rate (the birthrate at which a country's population will eventually level off) is 2.19 births per woman. Birth rates have declined significantly in many areas of the world, to a degree that is perhaps overlooked.
Birth rate falls as Europeans struggle with crisis
Irish Independent - 5/11/2013 4:07:06 AM
The total fertility rate – the average amount of children born per woman – of Europe's 31 countries rose in 2008, when the effects of the recession had just begun to take hold, but has fallen ever since. In 2008 no country had fewer than 1.3 live ...
Developing World to Dominate Global Investment by 2030
ipsnews.net - 5/17/2013 12:39:33 AM
India and Russia will together constitute a larger investment bloc than the United States, at around 13 percent. This means that total investments in the developing world could be half again as large as among developed countries, at 15 versus 10 trillion ...
US surpasses other industrialized countries in infant death rate
World Socialist Web Site - 5/9/2013 3:36:40 PM
The US has by far the highest first-day death rate in the industrialized ... all other industrialized countries combined.” The 33 other industrialized countries for which data was collected recorded a combined total of 7,500 first-day deaths ...
Developing World to Dominate Global Investment by 2030: World Bank
The Jakarta Globe - 5/17/2013 2:44:14 PM
One report last year estimated that North African countries ... “It’s important to note that the World Bank is only talking about recorded capital here, but there’s so much illicit capital currently sloshing around that the multilateral institutions ...
Correction: Mideast-Young and Hopeless-Glance
Tacoma News Tribune - 5/11/2013 5:21:40 PM
The GDP is nearly $2.7 trillion, according to the World ... Spring countries, anywhere from 40 to 60 percent of the population are estimated to be younger than 25, with the biggest youth bulge in Yemen and the smallest in Tunisia. Fertility rates, while ...
Mideast economies need to create 46 million jobs by 2020 to reduce unemployment to global norm
Newser - 5/11/2013 5:35:59 PM
In Arab Spring countries, anywhere from 40 to 60 percent of the population are estimated to be under 25, with the biggest youth bulge in Yemen and the smallest in Tunisia. Fertility rates, while falling, drive the world's second highest rate of population ...
Unemployment rate in rich countries edges down: OECD
Channel NewsAsia - 5/15/2013 1:20:42 PM
PARIS: The unemployment rate across rich countries eased slightly to 8.0 percent in March, the OECD said on Wednesday, but this meant that 48.3 million people were officially without work in the downdraught of the financial and eurozone debt crises.
3 Countries With Awful Demographics
The Motley Fool - 4/29/2013 3:34:12 PM
"In 1979, the world's fertility rate ... If Japan's fertility stays where it is, the country will contract by more than half -- to 56.8 million -- by the end of the century. What's shocking here is the rate of increase in the 65-plus share of the population.
Fertility Rates and Population Decline: No Time for Children?
eNews Park Forest - 4/29/2013 4:02:50 PM
On May 15: A new book which explores the far reaching implications of the dramatic decline in fertility rates across the world will be launched at the ... Research in European countries shows that current family policies are having 'very little effect ...
There is need to reduce our population by half for sustainable development
monitor.co.ug - 5/17/2013 9:53:43 PM
The current population estimate for Uganda is slightly over 34 million people. About 75 per cent of them are below the age of 30 (possibly one of the youngest populations in the world). Barely a decade ago we were only about 25 million people! Sadhguru ...
