The fertility rate is the average number of children born to women during their reproductive life (the World Health Organisation states that this usually refers to women aged 15-49). To maintain a stable population, a fertility rate of 2.1 is required. Very few countries globally are currently achieving this, with developed nations falling critically behind. Giving people reproductive choices is a key aim for PET, which continues to campaign for fair access to good quality fertility treatment.
BioNews has reported on this issue for more than 25 years. Below you will find a specially curated selection of articles aimed at giving you the bigger picture.
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Could fertility treatment help address the issue of depopulation?
There is a move toward people having their families later in life, which means they are more likely to face issues of subfertility. Access to fertility treatment is an issue for many people wanting to start a family, therefore investing in funding for assisted conception will certainly help improve fertility rates – and as the International Federation of Fertility Societies says – bring 'more joy'.
Should we be worried about depopulation? Isn't the world overpopulated?
The fertility rate for many countries has actually been in decline for decades, and is now below the replacement rate of 2.1. Experts predict that the world population as a whole will tip into decline before long. This will have serious implications for family structures and economic stability.
Explore this specially curated selection of articles about population growth from the BioNews archive.
2024
This film documents a PET event about what employees and employers can – and should – expect from one another, if an employee has fertility problems or needs assisted conception.
2024
The policy aims to address concerns over Denmark's declining population growth. The current fertility rate in the country is 1.5 children per woman, falling short of the 2.1 needed to ensure a stable population.
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2024
Falling birth rates are forcing politicians to confront the consequences of education and immigration policies over recent decades.
2024
The number of babies being born to individual women in England and Wales is at its lowest level since 1938, figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.
2024
Decades of policy aimed at curbing population growth has left many countries at the precipice of an unprecedented population decline. Policy makers and employers must work to reverse this trend to avoid catastrophe, but also to bring joy.
2024
France's president has proposed offering state-funded fertility tests to 25-year olds, as one way to reverse the decline in the country's birth rate.
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2023
Data from the UK Office for National Statistics shows that the fertility rate for women under 30 years has reached an all-time low, while rates for women aged 40-44 years have more than quadrupled. This trend is mirrored in other high-income countries.
2021
As a response to the drastic decline in birth rates over the past few years, the Singapore government is currently deliberating whether to lift the ban on social egg freezing for single women.
2020
Hungary will be providing free IVF to couples to combat the country's declining birth rate, announced the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.
2018
The number of children born per woman has halved globally since 1950, according to a study published in The Lancet. Researchers found that although the global population has roughly tripled from 2.6 billion to 7.6 billion, the fertility rate has dropped from 4.7 live births per woman in 1950 to 2.4 in 2017.
2013
Global rates of infertility have remained relatively stable between 1990 and 2010, according to a study that compiled data from 277 national surveys in 190 countries. 'Independent from population growth and worldwide declines in the preferred number of children, we found little evidence of changes in infertility over two decades', the authors wrote, adding that 'further research is needed to identify the etiological causes of these patterns and trends'.
2006
Europe's increasing demographic crisis could be helped by providing free fertility treatment to more women, says RAND Europe, an independent research organisation, at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).