The global average birth rate has halved since 1960 and is now just above the "replacement" rate of 2.1 children per woman. Only sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East still have the old, high birth rates. In the Americas, Europe, Oceania and above all in Asia birth rates have fallen at an astonishing rate. Such a migration has already been going on for decades at a smaller scale in the rich countries of the West. Probably mostly from Africa and the Middle East, because that’s where the remaining high birth rates are.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 15, 2026 16:02 UTC