Fertility rate: 'Jaw-dropping' global crash in children being born

[Nutso]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-53409521

The world is ill-prepared for the global crash in children being born which is set to have a "jaw-dropping" impact on societies, say researchers.

Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century.

And 23 nations - including Spain and Japan - are expected to see their populations halve by 2100.

Countries will also age dramatically, with as many people turning 80 as there are being born.
What is going on?

The fertility rate - the average number of children a woman gives birth to - is falling.

If the number falls below approximately 2.1, then the size of the population starts to fall.

In 1950, women were having an average of 4.7 children in their lifetime.

Researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation showed the global fertility rate nearly halved to 2.4 in 2017 - and their study, published in the Lancet, projects it will fall below 1.7 by 2100.

As a result, the researchers expect the number of people on the planet to peak at 9.7 billion around 2064, before falling down to 8.8 billion by the end of the century.

"That's a pretty big thing; most of the world is transitioning into natural population decline," researcher Prof Christopher Murray told the BBC.

"I think it's incredibly hard to think this through and recognise how big a thing this is; it's extraordinary, we'll have to reorganise societies."

[McAvoy]

I have been hearing about this lately. Alot of articles have been written about countries like Italy and Japan. Hell people talk about Japan due to their own culture enabling it.

[Vic]

Is this social engineering or is there a heretofore unknown natural mechanism at work?

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I have been hearing about this lately. Alot of articles have been written about countries like Italy and Japan. Hell people talk about Japan due to their own culture enabling it.

Same. Japan's gonna go through a serious population crash, from what I've seen.

I'm kinda contributing a bit, actually. I'm not having kids.

[McAvoy]

Is this social engineering or is there a heretofore unknown natural mechanism at work?

With Japanese it's their culture they have developed where they sort of made being anti social being their culture. That's the best way of explaining.

I did hear about the Italians having issues too. Mainly not having kids because they can't afford to seems to be the reason. Which maybe the reasons globally.

Kinda odd, richer the country the less likely to have kids. Poorer the country more likely to have more kids.