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POSTERITY HAS not been kind to Widow Luo. Bereaved as a young mother in the late Qing dynasty, her refusal to remarry earned her the emperor's praise and a zhenjie [...]

If current forecasts are accurate, 2064 will be the first year in centuries when fewer babies are born than people die. Birth rates in India will fall to below the [...]

WE have two covers this week. In most of the world we consider why baby-boosting policies won't work. As birth rates plunge in rich countries, many politicians are keen to [...]

Three decades ago, when women now entering their 40s became fertile, East Asian governments had reason to celebrate. If a South Korean woman behaved in the same way as her [...]

TO DRIVE AROUND Lathrop, a small town in California's Central Valley, is to see a rural community in the throes of rapid development. Shelley Burcham is the town's economic-development administrator. [...]

We had two covers this week. Our British edition looks at https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/06/01/scotland-has-been-on-a-ten-year-holiday-from-reality . Everywhere else we focus on the profound economic consequences of https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/06/01/global-fertility-has-collapsed-with-profound-economic-consequences . In 2000 the world's fertility [...]

In the roughly 250 years since the Industrial Revolution the world's population, like its wealth, has exploded. Before the end of this century, however, the number of people on the [...]

THE DEMOGRAPHIC milestones come thick and fast in 'My Home in the Forest', the official tourism anthem of Yichun, a sprawling city in China's far north-east. The song was released [...]

In the weeks leading up to the lunar new year on January 22nd, millions of people in China travelled back to their home towns to celebrate the country's biggest holiday. [...]

Innovative ways to cope with demographic decline I N RELATION TO demography, as well as public debt, Italy is often compared to Japan. It has Europe's second-lowest birth rate, at [...]

Asia's advanced economies now have lower birth rates than Japan T HE LIST of things for which Japan enjoys a global reputation includes delicious food, cutting-edge technology, an oversupply of [...]

China is still the world's biggest country--for now R ARELY DOES a census attract attention and controversy--unless the country counting its people is both the world's largest and on the [...]

Child-safety laws may have surprising unintended consequences IN THE EARLY 1970s American women gave birth, on average, to 2.12 children each. By 2018 that figure had fallen to 1.73. Many [...]

SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE is in a Catch-22. The region's many problems prompt young, talented people to leave in droves. But it will not catch up with the rest of Europe [...]

A baby boom grows up, causing difficulties for stretched public services 'THE OH, OH, Ohhh-lympics!' ran one tabloid headline. 'As record 150,000 condoms are handed out to a host of [...]

France's fertility rate is high, but starting to slide THE French city of Rennes serves plates of asparagus tips to 18-month-old tots. Toulouse treats its under-fives to Roquefort-cheese tart. Toddlers [...]

The economic aspects of the rise in the life expectancy of Japanese people and the decline in birthrates are described. The need for Japan to reform its pension sytem and implement policies for the improvement of birthrates is discussed.

The falling birth rate is attributed to a rise in the marriage age and an increase in the number of unmarried persons. The absence of a mechanism enabling working women to care for children and increase in the economic burdens on child bearing and child care are factors for decline in the birth rate.

The proportion of births outside marriage has at last stopped rising THE ever-rising proportion of births outside wedlock is one of the great social trends in postwar England and Wales. [...]

A new census raises questions about the future of China's one-child policy DOES China have enough people? The question might seem absurd. The country has long been famous both for [...]

So long. Mum and Dad are off to the pub A baby bust may be the best time to buy firms that sell kids' stuff PRIVATE-EQUITY barons don't usually go [...]

Demographic statistics -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1970 1980 1990 2000 2006 Total population (m)(a) 203.3 226.5 248.7 281.4 299.4 Birth rate (per 1,000 population) 18.4 15.9 16.7 14.7 13.9 Death rate (per 1,000 [...]

Reports of Europe's death are somewhat exaggerated EUROPEAN countries are buffeted by two global forces: atmospheric pressures that, as it were, change the weather, silently transforming societies and the assumptions [...]

War reduces population growth and settlement Latest estimates put the population at around 3.2m in 2004. Liberia's population growth rate averaged 3.3% per year in 1980-87 but slowed to around [...]

The need for South Korean government to adopt effective policies to increase birth rate is discussed.

Forty years ago, thanks to intermittent warnings issued by experts, many people feared that the rise in population, especially in the countries that could least afford to support growing numbers [...]

The Hong Kong Economic Times reported that the dropping birth rate has adversely affected the demand for secondary school teachers. According to Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIE), the number [...]

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is looking at ways for parents and businesses to better balance work and family commitments. Declining fertility rates are a concern in [...]