Cyprus has the lowest birth rate in the world

Cyprus and Taiwan have the lowest fertility rates in the world, research just published in the Lancet has found.

The study followed 195 countries from 1950 to 2017. In 1950, women were having 4.7 children in their lifetime on average, but the rate steadily declined and was just 2.4 children by last year.

The numbers vary substantially across countries and over time. In 2017, the total fertility rate ranged from a low of 1.0 in Cyprus and Taiwan to a high of 7.1 live births in Niger.

In 1950, it ranged from 1.7 births in Andorra to a high of 8.9 in Jordan.

The TFR [total fertility rate] decreased in all 195 countries between 1950 and 2017 and 102 countries and territories showed a decrease of more than 50 per cent, the study said.

This means these countries now have insufficient children to maintain their population size.

At the start of the study, in 1950, there were zero nations in this position.

We’ve reached this watershed where half of countries have fertility rates below the replacement level, so if nothing happens the populations will decline in those countries, Prof Christopher Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, told the BBC.

It’s a remarkable transition.It’s a surprise even to people like myself, the idea that it’s half the countries in the world will be a huge surprise to people.

More economically developed countries including most of Europe, the US, South Korea and Australia have the lowest fertility rates.

It does not mean the number of people living in these countries is falling, at least not yet as the size of a population is a mix of the fertility rate, death rate and migration.

The study also counted the world population. In 1950, there was a total population of 2.6 billion, which increased to 7.6 billion in 2017. The increase is mainly due to high birth rates in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

CM