In the last few years, Americans began to realize what most Europeans and many East Asians had realized last decade: We’re in the middle of a global Baby Bust.
Birthrates are falling in almost every country. Many countries have shrinking populations.
The Total Fertility Rate is the most important measure of the birth rate. It is a modeled number that calculates how many babies each woman is having in her lifetime. Every wealthy country besides Israel has a TFR below 2, as do China and India. That means the adults in all of those countries are not replacing themselves.
A TFR of 2.1 is commonly accepted as the “replacement level.” A population with a TFR of 2.1 will, absent net migration, maintain a steady population.
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