Fertility rates are falling fastest among some nations in the Far East and the Caribbean, a map of the percentage change in the last 50 years shows.
South Korea, China and Bhutan have all seen a 79 percent decline in the average number of births per woman between 1971 and 2021, U.N. figures show, while Hong Kong—which became part of China in 1997—has seen a 78 percent decrease in its fertility rate.
The United Arab Emirates, in the Middle East, has seen a 77 percent drop in its per woman birth rate in the same time period, as has the Maldives. St. Lucia, Anguilla and Jamaica have all seen falls of over 75 percent.
On Wednesday, South Korea's state statistics agency announced that its fertility rate had fallen even further to a record low of 0.72 in 2023, down from 0.78 in 2022. In 1971, it had a birth rate per woman of 4.25 children.
The latest fertility rate is well below the 2.1 average needed for the country to have a steady population, posing economic problems as those leaving the workforce due to old age will not all be replaced.
South Korean women worry that if they take time out of the workforce they will miss out on promotions and wage rises in a country that has the worst gender pay gap among OECD nations.
"Women typically can't build on their experience to climb higher at workplaces because they are often...the only one doing the childcare [and] often need to rejoin the workforce after extended leaves," Jung Jae-hoon, a professor of social welfare policy at Seoul Women's University, told Reuters.
No country has seen an increase in its fertility rate in the last half a century, though some—such as the Vatican and the Central African Republic—have seen no change or a negligible one.
Beyond this, the nations to see the shallowest falls in fertility rates are the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they declined by 3 percent; Chad, where they dropped five percent; and Niger, where they fell by nine percent.
Generally, low-income and developed countries have seen fertility rates drop by a third, while the least developed and middle-income countries have seen falls of 50-60 percent.
The United States' fertility rate has fallen by 26 percent between 1971 and 2021, from a woman having on average 2.26 children 50 years ago to 1.66 children now.
Experts say a variety of factors can contribute to decreasing fertility rates, from enhanced access to contraception, to improved economic prosperity, as well as lower child mortality that make mothers less likely to have more children.
National policies can also affect the rates. For instance, the Chinese government implemented a one-child policy to curb population growth from 1979 to 2015, which may account for the massive decrease it has seen. Since 2015, its fertility rate has fallen by 30 percent.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
