The End of the Fertility Transition in the Developing World

Over the past four decades reproductive behavior has changed rapidly in much of the developing world. The average total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen by half from the tradit ional six or more to near three today, and contraceptive use – once rare – is now widespread. Between the early 1960s and the late 1990s the largest fertility declines occurred in Asia (52 per cent) and Latin America (-55 per cent) and the smallest in sub-Saharan Africa (-15 per cent) (United Nations 2001). Differences among countries are even larger, with some completing the transition to replacement fertility in record time (e.g., China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea), while others (mostly in sub-Saharan Africa) have seen little change in reproductive behavior.