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 1:56:29 PM
About 50 years ago India had a fertility rate of nearly six — the number of births per woman. Today that rate is 2.5, which is barely above the estimated U.S. rate of 2.1 in 2011, and essentially the level needed to keep a constant population of about 1 ...
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
A new study conducted by a Stanford University researcher suggests that television and internet could be the reason why fertility rates are dropping across ... of television ownership in the country is very similar to the fertility map.
TV Linked with Falling Birth Rates
LiveScience - 5/13/2013 5:33:37 PM
Birth rates ... 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. This is particularly true in India, where the fertility ...
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 ...
Women in Greece aren’t giving up on childbirth—they’re just waiting till 40
Quartz - 5/18/2013 12:55:40 PM
It’s been a while now since I wrote this article on how Greece’s fertility bust and our unenlightened response to it helped build our mountain of debt in the ’80s and set us on course for the sovereign debt crisis of 2009. I’ve been thinking a ...
Developing World to Dominate Global Investment by 2030
ipsnews.net - 5/17/2013 12:39:33 AM
“Similarly, the quality of institutions in developing countries will tend to improve significantly.” This analysis suggests that developing countries will soon gain the resources necessary to bankroll the major investments that the bank says will be ...
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 ...
Mideast youth need 46 million jobs by 2020
Salon - 5/11/2013 5:43:08 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 ...
3 Countries With Awful Demographics
The Motley Fool - 4/29/2013 3:34:12 PM
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 ... nearly triple as a share of its total 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.
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 ... Sciences in 2009 and appointed to their Council in 2012. She was awarded an MBE for services to social ...
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 ...
Stop world population growth or face global collapse
examiner.com - 5/9/2013 7:40:03 PM
The good news is that all the European countries have stabilized their population through declining fertility, adding to a total of 44 countries worldwide ... have high fertility rates. To get to the crux of the matter, Brown suggests that the challenge ...
