Foreign Media: According to the United Nations' 2024 Revision of World Population Prospects, the global average fertility rate will be 2.2 in 2025, a significant decline from around 5.0 in the 1960s.
About 71% of the world's population lives in countries with fertility rates below the replacement level (2.1). China's fertility rate has dropped to 1.02, and India's to 1.9, accelerating the aging of their populations.
The highest fertility rates are found in sub-Saharan Africa, led by Chad (5.94), Somalia (5.91), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.90). This region will dominate future global population growth; Nigeria is expected to surpass the U.S. population before 2050. Among the world's ten most populous countries, six are below the replacement level, while only Pakistan (3.50), Nigeria (4.30), and Ethiopia (3.81) maintain relatively high fertility rates.
The lowest fertility rates are observed in Macao (0.69), Hong Kong (0.74), and South Korea (0.75). The gap between high- and low-fertility countries has reached an all-time high, indicating extreme imbalance in regional demographic changes.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1865494195410947/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.