Jan 27, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Fertility levels have plummeted in the last 30 years while divorce rates and the use of contraceptives have increased worldwide, says a new UN report.
According to an article by the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, the UN’s World Fertility Report 2003 says developing countries experienced the most dramatic declines between 1970 and 2000. China had one of the largest reductions of about four children per woman.
In developed countries, the median total fertility fell by 0.8 children per woman.
The report, issued by the UN Population Division (UNPD) this week, documents that by the late 1990s, only four developed countries, including the United States, "reported a total fertility of two children per woman or higher."