World Population Day

Fertility trends vary significantly across different regions of the world. Currently, the Sub-Saharan Africa region has the highest total fertility rates in the world. Despite some decline in recent years, the average number of children a woman was 4.3 children in 2023, higher than other regions. Total fertility rates in Europe and Central Asia, and in North America , have been among the lowest globally since 1960, and it was 1.6 children on average, in 2023. In other regions, total fertility rates were high in the 1960s but have sharply declined since. Fertility decline in East Asia and Pacific was drastic, and the fertility rate was lowest (1.3 children on average) in 2023.

Currently , economies across the world are in different phases of Demographic transition , and total fertility rates vary significantly. Fertility decline is particularly pronounced in some places, where total fertility rates have fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman (the replacement level fertility is the average number of children per woman needed to maintain a stable population size ). In 2023, in seven economies, on average, a woman gave birth to less than one child. On the other hand, there were five economies where, on average, a woman gave birth to more than six children. These economies with fertility rates higher than six were all in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.