Birth rates are falling: world population is growing more slowly

Almost eight billion people now live on earth. But the rapid population growth has slowed significantly. It is still highest in the poorest region of the world.

World population growth has slowed by around a third over the past 30 years. Since 1990, the birth rate has fallen from an average of 3.2 children per woman to 2.3 children today, according to the German Foundation for World Population (DSW). According to this, 7.9 billion people currently live on earth.

According to the data, however, the birth rates in the individual countries and regions differ greatly. The highest rate is recorded in sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s poorest region, with 4.7 children per woman. In contrast, high-income countries have an average birth rate of 1.8.

There is no access to contraception

The foundation said the birth rates are particularly high in countries with an unmet need for modern contraceptives and a high number of teenage pregnancies. “If young people cannot choose whether to have a child – be it because they lack sex education or because contraceptives are scarce – they are denied their right to self-determination,” emphasized managing director Jan Kreutzberg

In sub-Saharan Africa, every second woman who wants to avoid pregnancy has no access to contraception, it said. Every year 16 percent of the births there are due to teenage pregnancies. In Germany, teeanger pregnancies only account for one percent of all births each year.