World Population Prospects, the 2010 Revision

Figure 8: Population by Total Fertility (millions)

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2011): World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision. New York
Note: Only countries with a population of 100,000 or more in 2010 are included

(Updated: 15 April 2011)

Key result: In 2010 about 48 percent of the world population had an average total fertility of less than 2.1 children per woman.

Using population and total fertility estimates and projections for five-year periods, this figure displays the number of people by level of total fertility from 1950 to 2100.

More than one billion of the more than 2.5 billion world population in 1950 had a total fertility of 6 or more children. This was equivalent to about 44 percent of the world population.

By 2010, the population with a total fertility of more than 6 children had declined to 119 million - or only 1.7 percent of the world population in 2010. The population with sub-replacement fertility of less than 2.1 children per woman, on the other hand, had increased to almost 3.3 billion in 2010 - up from 71 million in 1950. Almost 48 percent of the world population in 2010 had a total fertility of less than 2.1 children per woman.

According to the medium variant projection of the 2010 Revision of the World Population Prospects total fertility will continue to decline. By 2050 almost 78 percent of the world population will have a total fertility of less than 2.1 children per woman. This share will temporarily decline until 2070, due to the assumption of slightly increasing fertility among very-low fertility countries. However, by the end of the century, more than 82 percent of the world population will have a total fertility of less than 2.1 children per woman.