The Globalization of Fertility Behavior

Between the late 1950s and the late 1970s fertility began a persistent major decline in countries containing almost four-fifths of the world’s population. The exceptions that did not follow within a further decade were nearly all found in three regions: sub-Saharan Africa, Arab Southwest Asia, and Melanesia. The range of populations involved in the decline was unpredicted and unprecedented. Few developing countries had ever before had a sustained fertility decline, while the West had immediately beforehand been experiencing either stable fertility levels or, because of the postwar “baby boom,” rising levels.