Finance & economics | Free exchange

Richer societies mean fewer babies. Right?

A guide to the new economics of fertility

In a speech to the Vatican in January, Pope Francis made an observation fit for an economist. He argued that declining fertility rates might lead to a “demographic winter”. In every European country the total fertility rate, the expected number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, has now fallen below 2.1, the level needed to maintain a stable population without immigration. The same is true in many developing countries, including China and (as of this year) India. This, the pope warned, would weigh on the world’s economic health.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The new economics of fertility”

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