Steepest collapse
China: 7.5 → 0.95
Fertility is down 87% from its 1963 peak of 7.5 children per woman.
Fertility explorer
France vs Germany: fertility rates
Compare
Put any countries side by side
Up to eight countries, as far back as 1800. Hover or tap the chart for exact values and sources.
France1.56Germany1.31
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Discoveries
Patterns pulled straight from the data. Open any of them in the explorer, or share it.
Same start, different fate
Central African Republic and Vietnam
Central African RepublicVietnam
Both had about 6.0 children per woman in 1970. Now Central African Republic is at 6.0 and Vietnam at 1.9.
Faster than the models
Bolivia: 1.8, not 2.5
National statistics put fertility at 1.8 in 2024. The World Bank's modelled series still reads 2.5 for 2024.
Halved in record time
China halved fertility in 7 years
From 6.1 children per woman in 1970 to 2.8 in 1977.
Against the tide
Uzbekistan climbed back to 3.2
Fertility bottomed out at 2.3 in 2012 and has risen since, while most of the world kept falling.
Newest below replacement
The latest countries to fall under 2.1
Lowest on Earth
The world's lowest fertility rates
Highest on Earth
Where families are still largest
Map
Watch fertility fall, country by country
Press play to run from 1950 to today. Green is above replacement, red below. Click a country to bring it into the comparison.
20241950–2024
The great convergence
From big families to small, everywhere at once
Each bubble is a country, sized by population. In 1950 they spread from 2 to 8. Play the years and watch them crowd below replacement.
20241950–2024
Milestones
When each country crossed the line
The first year fertility fell below the line, counting from 1950. Hollow names have since climbed back above it.
Line at
Rankings
Every country, ranked
Sort by level or by speed of change. Click a name to chart it, or add it to your comparison.
Go deeper
Behind the national averages
Fertility by group, by region inside countries, and the newest monthly births.
- Race, origin and incomeU.S. race and Hispanic origin, Austria by origin, Kosovo by ethnicity
- Ethnic and religious groupsGroup fertility where statistical offices publish it
- Education and wealthDHS schooling and wealth quintiles
- Many mothers, or large families?The same TFR can mean two different things
- The age pattern of fertilityBirths by mother's age since 1853: Iceland and England & Wales
- Regional mapsStates, provinces and regions inside countries
- Population simulatorWhat a given fertility rate does to a population
- Why it mattersAge structure, pensions, schools and politics
- What's the solution?Pronatal culture against the subsidy model
The total fertility rate (TFR) is the number of children a woman would have over her life if she experienced this year's birth rates at every age. A TFR of about 2.1 keeps a population the same size from one generation to the next, before migration. Values from 1960 are World Bank estimates; earlier values are reconstructions from the Human Fertility Database, UN estimates for 1950–59, and Gapminder's modelled series further back. The newest years use provisional national statistics where they line up with the World Bank series, and show them separately where they don't. Methodology