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Article: Poverty fuels developing world's high birth rate.
- Article from:
- Economic Review
- Article date:
- July 1, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Economic and Industrial Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Poverty fuels high birth rates in poor nations, as documented in the 2002 World Population Data Sheet released at he National Press Club by the Population Reference Bureau. Of the 41 countries designated as "heavily indebted poor countries" by the World Bank, 39 fall into the category of high-fertility nations, where women, on average, bear four or more children. Similarly, the 48 countries identified by the United Nations as "least developed" are expected to triple their populations by 2050.
The correlation between poverty and high fertility rates is most marked in sub-Saharan Africa, where the total fertility rate (TFR, or number of children each woman bears on ...