Roughly two-thirds of the world’s population now lives in regions where total fertility rates, births expected per woman, are below the 2.1 threshold needed for natural population replacement, per the United Nations. Longer life spans, rising living costs and shifting attitudes toward family have led younger generations to delay or opt out of having children.
East Asia is home to some of the lowest birth rates globally. The trend, coupled with rapidly aging populations, strains pension systems and threatens to drag on the some of the world’s largest economies.
