A look at the birth rate in all countries of the world shows that in 90 of around 200 countries worldwide women have an average of only 2.1 children. Not only European countries are subject to this tendency. Demographically important nations such as China, Japan and Brazil are also affected by this development. The same change is also taking place in countries like France, Scandinavia or the Netherlands – in all of these well-developed welfare states, it is actually easier for residents to combine family and work. But even in these countries it is now common for couples not to have more than two children. If one therefore looks at the birth rate of all developed countries, the birth rate amounts to 1.6 children per woman. See prozipcodes.com for the poorest countries in the world.
Ranking of the 50 countries with the lowest birth rate
Rank
Country
Birth rate per 1,000 residents
1
Hong Kong (Asia)
7.29
2
Germany (Europe)
8.33
3
Macau (Asia)
8.48
4
Italy (Europe)
8.72
5
Austria (Europe)
8.74
6
Lithuania (Europe)
8.75
7
Guernsey (Europe)
8.81
8
Ukraine (Europe)
8.82
9
Slovenia (Europe)
8.98
10
Andorra (Europe)
9.00
11
Czech Republic (Europe)
9.02
12
Monaco (Europe)
9.19
13
Latvia (Europe)
9.24
14
Jersey (Europe)
9.30
15
Singapore (Asia)
9.34
16
Japan (Asia)
9.37
17
Croatia (Europe)
9.61
18
Bulgaria (Europe)
9.66
19
Greece (Europe)
9.68
20
Switzerland (Europe)
9.71
21
Hungary (Europe)
9.72
22
Poland (Europe)
9.85
23
Estonia (Europe)
9.91
24
Russia (Europe)
9.95
25
Korea, Republic of (Asia)
10.00
26
San Marino (Europe)
10.02
27
Spain (Europe)
10.06
28
Liechtenstein (Europe)
10.21
29
Malta (Europe)
10.22
30
Sweden (Europe)
10.27
31
Georgia (Asia)
10.41
32
Belgium (Europe)
10.48
33
Finland (Europe)
10.50
34
Slovakia (Europe)
10.65
35
Romania (Europe)
10.70
36
Great Britain (Europe)
10.71
37
Portugal (Europe)
10.72
38
Gibraltar (Europe)
10.74
39
Canada (North America)
10.78
40
Netherlands (Europe)
10.90
41
Isle of Man (Europe)
11.05
42
Belarus (Europe)
11.16
43
Aruba (North America)
11.26
44
Denmark (Europe)
11.36
45
Norway (Europe)
11.46
46
Bermuda (North America)
11.60
47
Armenia (Asia)
11.76
48
Cuba (North America)
11.89
49
Luxembourg (Europe)
11.94
50
Macedonia (Europe)
12.02
This country comparison takes 222 countries into account.
Birth rate per 1,000 population statistics
feature
value
Number of countries covered
222
average
22.17
Median
18.90
minimum
7.29
maximum
50.73
Standard deviation
11.15
In most countries the birth rate is no longer sustainable
More than half of the entire world population already lives in countries where the birth rate is no longer considered to be sustainable. In some countries such as Germany, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine or Romania, the number of offspring is so low that no new state could emerge from the children. These countries have fertility rates of 1.2 to 1.4 children per woman. This means that each generation is about a third smaller than that of the parents. Conversely, this means that many people living in Europe today have one child fewer than their parents or even two fewer children than their grandparents. The trend is even clearer in so-called emerging and developing countries, in which women even give birth to two to three fewer children than in the previous generation. In Brazil, the number of children per woman has decreased from 4.3 to 1.9 over the past 30 years. The developments are even more drastic in Bangladesh with a decrease from 6.6 to 2.3 or in Turkey from 4.2 to 2.0 children.
This trend goes far beyond industrialized nations
The reasons for this development now affect not only people in industrialized countries. If the survival chances of children in certain nations improve, poor people can also give birth to fewer children without risking their own traditional old-age insurance. If, on the other hand, an agricultural community turns into a knowledge or industrial society, the offspring turns from a production factor to a cost factor. If the states then also offer publicly financed old-age insurance, other incentives for their own children are also lost. Rising incomes also mean that more and more people are turning away from the desire to have children and instead strive for consumer goods.
Children are not a lucky coincidence, they are meticulously planned
A similar picture is taking place across the world. Increased education, more prosperity and greater personal freedoms mean that people no longer see a child as a fortune. People begin to plan to have families. And for people with a higher level of education, a maximum of two children usually fit into this planning concept. That is why there can be no talk of an educational explosion in many countries around the world. Which countries now have a particularly low birth rate? The following lists answer this question.
