State of World Population 2012 - UNFPA Haiti

CHAPTERTWOAnalysing data and trends tounderstand the needsGlobal trends in fertilityLast year, the world’s population surpassed 7 billion and it is projected to reach9 billion by 2050. Population growth is generally highest in the poorest countries,where fertility preferences are the highest, where governments lack the resources tomeet the increasing demand for services and infrastructure, where jobs growth isnot keeping pace with the number of new entrants into the labour force, andwhere many population groups face great difficulty in accessing family planninginformation and services (Population Reference Bureau, 2011; UNFPA, 2011b).tIn Mali, a couplewith their sons.©Panos/GiacomoPirozziWorldwide, birth rates have continued to declineslowly. However, large disparities exist betweenmore developed and less developed regions. Thisis particularly true for sub-Saharan Africa, wherewomen give birth to three times as many childrenon average as womenin more developed regionsof the world (5.1 versus1.7 births per woman).A large part of this differencereflects a desirefor larger families in sub-Saharan Africa, but asmost women in this regionnow want to have fewerchildren (Westoff andBankole, 2002), fertilitydifferences increasinglyreveal limited and unequal access in thedeveloping world to the means to preventunintended pregnancy.Fertility ratesPoverty, gender inequality and socialpressures are all reasons for persistent highfertility. But in nearly all of the least-developedcountries, lack of access to voluntary familyplanning is a major contributing factor.Who is using familyplanning?The use of modern familyplanning methods as measuredby the contraceptive prevalencerate has increased globally ata very modest pace of 0.1 percent per year in recent years,more slowly than in the previousdecade (United Nations,Department of Economicand Social Affairs, 2011). Themodest increase is partially a function of thelarge increase in the numbers of married womenof reproductive age—a 25 per cent increaseTotal fertility rate(births per woman)World................................................ 2.5More Developed............................. 1.7Less Developed.............................. 2.8Least Developed............................ 4.5Sub-Saharan Africa....................... 5.1Source: United Nations, 2011a.THE STATE OF WORLD POPULATION 201217