A scientific study that lasted for decades found that there is a significant decrease in the total fertility rate of women, pointing out that this decline has spread throughout the world in varying degrees.
The study, published in the prestigious Lancet, followed the overall fertility rate in the world between 1950 and 2017.
The fertility rate differs from the birth rate. The first is the number of children a woman has in her life, and the second is the number of births per 1,000 women in a given period of time.
The study said women had an average of 4.7 children in 1950, but the rate dropped to 2.4 children last year, meaning that it fell by an average of 49 percent globally.
However, the study revealed a wide disparity between countries, with a maximum rate of 7.1 in Niger, while one in Cyprus.
The list of the top 10 least developed countries has lost the fertility rate of women from all Arab countries, while the rate is very low in developed countries such as Europe, the United States and South Korea.
The researchers found the results were "a big surprise", especially since the world population increased and did not decrease in the study period, the population of the earth was 2.6 billion in 1950, to become 7.6 billion people now.
Much of this increase was in the proportion of the world population in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The researchers attributed the decline in fertility to several factors, including easier availability of contraceptive tools, greater access to employment and education for women, and fewer childhood deaths.
