Main takeaways:
- More than 50% of all countries are below replacement level.
- Underpopulation causes distinct societal challenges in many countries.
- More focus on family-building strategies (decreasing barriers to establish a family) is urgently needed.
A new paper by IFFS leaders flags the challenges of falling fertility rates and urges governments to embrace family-building policies.
“In order for a population in a given territory or region to remain stable, the total fertility rate (TFR), defined as the number of children born per woman during a lifetime, should remain at around 2.1 children per woman. Due to the success of the strategies promoting the slowing down of world population growth, along with multiple changes in society … the number of countries below replacement level is growing rapidly,” writes Bart CJM Fauser, IFFS Scientific Director and professor Em. Of Reproductive Medicine at Netherlands’ Utrecht University in the paper, “Human Fertility at a Crossroad,” published in Reproductive Biomedicine Online (RBMO).
The paper follows up on “Declining global fertility rates and the implications for family planning and family building,” published last year in Human Reproduction Update, which formed the basis of the More Joy campaign.
“A shrinking national population size triggers fundamental societal challenges, and governments along with international organizations are slowly beginning to realize that challenges associated with underpopulation can no longer be ignored,” Fauser continues in the new paper.
According to Fauser and co-authors Drs. Luca Gianaroli and Edgar Mocanu, the TFR rates in Europe, the USA, Canada, Chile, Japan and Turkey fell below 2.1 in the mid 1980s. “Today, more than 50% of all countries worldwide are below replacement level and this is expected to increase to over 90% of all countries well before the end of this century. In some countries, especially Japan, China and Eastern and Southern Europe, the average number of children born per woman is approaching 1, indicating that, excluding migration, this population will halve in a single generation,” the authors state.
This news means the More Joy campaign’s recommendations have grown increasingly urgent. They include for governments, companies, and health care professionals to:
- Prioritize family building policies, including making fertility care more affordable, accessible, and equitable and reducing infertility risk factors.
- Create simpler, less intensive and less expensive assisted reproductive technologies (ART).
- Include fertility awareness and infertility prevention as part of family planning and contraceptive education.
- Provide infrastructure and support to increase access to care, especially in low-resource countries.
Check out the More Joy campaign materials, available in 17 languages, here:
https://www.iffsreproduction.org/morejoycampaign/
And read Fauser’s full paper here: