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Global fertility collapse

In 1960 the average woman had about five children. Today most of humanity lives in countries below the replacement rate of 2.1.

4 charts · 3 min read · Data refreshed 11 Sep 2026

The population-weighted fertility rate fell from 4.76 births per woman in 1960 to 2.17 in 2024.

54 countries were below the 2.1 replacement rate in 1990; 119 of 217 were in 2024.

01 · World map

Births per woman

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2024
217 countries
Fertility, 2024World map of Fertility (2024) for 217 countries, from 0.58 to 8.71.Fiji: 2.27Tanzania: 4.54W. Sahara: —Canada: 1.25United States: 1.63Kazakhstan: 2.98Uzbekistan: 3.49Papua New Guinea: 3.07Indonesia: 2.12Argentina: 1.50Chile: 1.14DR Congo: 5.98Somalia: 6.01Kenya: 3.17Sudan: 4.26Chad: 6.03Haiti: 2.63Dominican Republic: 2.22Russia: 1.42Bahamas: 1.37Falkland Is.: —Norway: 1.45Greenland: 1.71Fr. S. Antarctic Lands: —Timor-Leste: 2.63South Africa: 2.21Lesotho: 2.66Mexico: 1.89Uruguay: 1.40Brazil: 1.61Bolivia: 2.52Peru: 1.97Colombia: 1.63Panama: 2.11Costa Rica: 1.32Nicaragua: 2.21Honduras: 2.48El Salvador: 1.77Guatemala: 2.29Belize: 2.02Venezuela: 2.08Guyana: 2.40Suriname: 2.23France: 1.61Ecuador: 1.81Puerto Rico: 0.92Jamaica: 1.35Cuba: 1.45Zimbabwe: 3.67Botswana: 2.70Namibia: 3.21Senegal: 3.77Mali: 5.51Mauritania: 4.63Benin: 4.48Niger: 5.94Nigeria: 4.38Cameroon: 4.26Togo: 4.12Ghana: 3.34Côte d'Ivoire: 4.23Guinea: 4.13Guinea-Bissau: 3.76Liberia: 3.86Sierra Leone: 3.70Burkina Faso: 4.11Central African Republic: 5.95Republic of the Congo: 4.11Gabon: 3.59Equatorial Guinea: 4.12Zambia: 4.04Malawi: 3.59Mozambique: 4.69Eswatini: 2.72Angola: 5.05Burundi: 4.79Israel: 2.87Lebanon: 2.23Madagascar: 3.91Palestine: 3.25Gambia: 3.91Tunisia: 1.82Algeria: 2.72Jordan: 2.60United Arab Emirates: 1.21Qatar: 1.72Kuwait: 1.56Iraq: 3.22Oman: 2.51Vanuatu: 3.57Cambodia: 2.55Thailand: 1.20Laos: 2.40Myanmar: 2.10Vietnam: 1.90North Korea: 1.78South Korea: 0.75Mongolia: 2.50India: 1.96Bangladesh: 2.14Bhutan: 1.45Nepal: 1.96Pakistan: 3.55Afghanistan: 4.76Tajikistan: 3.04Kyrgyzstan: 2.60Turkmenistan: 2.66Iran: 1.68Syria: 2.70Armenia: 1.70Sweden: 1.43Belarus: 1.22Ukraine: 0.99Poland: 1.14Austria: 1.31Hungary: 1.41Moldova: 1.73Romania: 1.39Lithuania: 1.11Latvia: 1.24Estonia: 1.18Germany: 1.36Bulgaria: 1.72Greece: 1.24Türkiye: 1.48Albania: 1.34Croatia: 1.46Switzerland: 1.29Luxembourg: 1.25Belgium: 1.44Netherlands: 1.43Portugal: 1.41Spain: 1.10Ireland: 1.47New Caledonia: 1.96Solomon Islands: 3.51New Zealand: 1.57Australia: 1.48Sri Lanka: 1.95China: 1.01Taiwan: —Italy: 1.18Denmark: 1.47United Kingdom: 1.55Iceland: 1.56Azerbaijan: 1.43Georgia: 1.80Philippines: 1.89Malaysia: 1.54Brunei: 1.73Slovenia: 1.52Finland: 1.25Slovakia: 1.46Czechia: 1.36Eritrea: 3.68Japan: 1.15Paraguay: 2.42Yemen: 4.50Saudi Arabia: 2.31N. Cyprus: —Cyprus: 1.38Morocco: 2.21Egypt: 2.74Libya: 2.30Ethiopia: 3.91Djibouti: 2.62Somaliland: —Uganda: 4.17Rwanda: 3.65Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1.49North Macedonia: 1.40Serbia: 1.64Montenegro: 1.80Kosovo: 1.54Trinidad and Tobago: 1.54South Sudan: 3.79
Fertility, 2024
  • 0.58 – 1.68
  • 1.68 – 2.31
  • 2.31 – 3.30
  • 3.30 – 4.80
  • 4.80 – 6.41
  • 6.41 – 8.71
  • No data
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Drag the year slider or press play. Hatched = no data.

Source: World Bank — WDI · SP.DYN.TFRT.IN · retrieved 11 Sep 2026

02 · Trend

Fertility by region

Population-weighted mean across 215–217 countries per year, computed by CountryAtlas from country values.

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  • World
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • East Asia & Pacific
  • Europe & Central Asia
Fertility4 series from 1960 to 2024: World, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia & Pacific, Europe & Central Asia.19601970198019902000201020200246

4 series from 1960 to 2024: World, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia & Pacific, Europe & Central Asia.

Source: World Bank — WDI · SP.DYN.TFRT.IN · retrieved 11 Sep 2026

03 · Selected countries

Six trajectories

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  • South Korea
  • China
  • Iran
  • Brazil
  • Bangladesh
  • Niger
Fertility6 series from 1960 to 2024: South Korea, China, Iran, Brazil, Bangladesh, Niger.196019701980199020002010202002468

6 series from 1960 to 2024: South Korea, China, Iran, Brazil, Bangladesh, Niger.

Source: World Bank — WDI · SP.DYN.TFRT.IN · retrieved 11 Sep 2026

04 · Ranking, 2024

Lowest fertility rates

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Sources

Every figure on this page is computed from the CountryAtlas snapshot 20260911T072322Z (built 11 Sep 2026). Values carry the licence of their source; the compilation is CC BY 4.0.

World Bank

Indicators used

How this story is built

A story is a declarative template: a list of blocks (world map by year, aggregate trend, country lines, a ranking) bound to indicators. Sentences are templates filled with numbers computed server-side from exactly the payloads charted below; when a value is missing the sentence is omitted rather than guessed.

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