The Fertility Gap: Barriers to Fertility Around the World

Women of all social, economic and religious backgrounds around the world tend to have less children than women of past generations, and less children than they would like to have.  The barriers to fertility are multifold, and include economic, cultural, environmental, cultural, political and ideological factors.  The consequences of the fertility gap are grief and distress for individuals and couples, and population aging, a shrinking labor force, and lower levels of economic growth for societies.