30% of Countries at Risk of Half-Sized Generations


 
If current trends continue, 30% of countries will have a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.0 or less by 2050. The replacement threshold required to stabilise a population is 2.1. These low TFRs, at 1 or below, would create successive generations which are half or less the size than that of the previous generation.

Top 10 Countries With Lowest Fertility Rates
Ranked by lowest projected fertility rate in 2050.

Country

1950

1975

2000

2025

2050

Korea, Rep.

6.06

3.31

1.47

0.67

0.32

Hong Kong

4.26

2.63

1.03

0.66

0.32

Taiwan

6.48

2.97

1.47

0.78

0.33

Singapore

6.23

2.11

1.43

0.87

0.39

Thailand

6.36

4.36

1.73

1.09

0.49

China

5.81

3.57

1.63

0.97

0.54

Mauritius

6.03

3.20

1.98

1.14

0.58

Bosnia and Herzegovina

5.07

2.39

1.28

1.27

0.59

United Arab Emirates

6.50

6.35

2.73

1.18

0.66

Albania

6.17

4.57

2.22

1.26

0.66

 

 

 

 

 

 

Country

1950

2000

2025

2050

Korea, Rep.

6.1

1.5

0.7

0.3

Hong Kong

4.3

1.0

0.7

0.3

Taiwan

6.5

1.5

0.8

0.3

Singapore

6.2

1.4

0.9

0.4

Thailand

6.4

1.7

1.1

0.5

China

5.8

1.6

1.0

0.5

Mauritius

6.0

2.0

1.1

0.6

Bosnia and Herzegovina

5.1

1.3

1.3

0.6

United Arab Emirates

6.5

2.7

1.2

0.7

Albania

6.2

2.2

1.3

0.7

 

 

 

 

 
Source: World Economics Population Database, 2025




The continued fall in TFRs is likely to cause depopulation trends in many countries. Depopulation is already evident in the Republic of Korea (beginning in 2009), Italy (2014), Russia (2019), Japan (2020), China (2021), Czechia (2023), Germany (2023), Spain (2023), Poland (2023) and France (2025).

More for subscribers:  
See more...Population Fertility Rate Data
See more...Population by Size Data
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