FINANCIAL TIMES – Birth rates are falling rapidly across the world, with fertility now below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman in more than two-thirds of countries. In 66 countries, the average is now closer to one child per woman than two. In some countries, the most common number of children per woman is zero. The trend is no longer limited to wealthy nations. In 2023, Mexico’s birth rate fell below that of the US for the first time, followed by countries including Brazil, Iran, Tunisia, and Sri Lanka. South Korea, one of the world’s lowest-fertility countries, recorded ~230K births in 2023, far below the UN forecast of 350K. Researchers say the biggest shift is that fewer people are forming couples at all, rather than couples simply having fewer children. Housing costs remain a major barrier in countries like the US and UK. But studies increasingly point to smartphones and social media after birth rates dropped sharply following widespread mobile internet adoption. Researchers argue that reduced in-person socialising, rising isolation, and changing relationship dynamics are now major drivers of global demographic decline.
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