"Total Fertility Rate for 6 Regions and the World, 1950-2100, UN2022" by Joe Bfsplk is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Population change is getting very political, very quickly, in lots of places. Fertility rates - the average number of children women have in their lifetimes - have plummeted, leaving the worldwide estimate now at 2.2, only marginally over the 2.1 deemed by statisticians to support a stable population over time. China, Japan, and South Korea are all actually losing population.