>The world's peak population may be smaller than expected

The patterns seem to repeat nearly universally around the globe. 

Sad about Russia, but not at all a surprise.

>Africa

I wonder which types of birth control are impacting 3rd-world countries the most? Condoms, I'm guessing?

That's a good question.  In the developed world set and forget birth controls (like IUDs and implants) have gained a lot of popularity due to convince and effectiveness.

old data...

Generally, developing countries only have a few methods of birth contraceptives offered to the public. In developing countries, the most common birth contraception methods include female sterilization (21%) and the IUD (15%). [3]

African countries typically have incredibly low accessibility for every method of birth control. In 1999,

    73% of African countries offered condoms,
    65% offered the pill,
    54% offered IUDs,
    42% female sterilization,
    26% male sterilization.[4]

Birth Contraceptives in Developing Countries
https://wiki.ubc.ca/Birth_Contraceptives_in_Developing_Countries

Quote from: rcjordan on June 01, 2023, 02:48:30 PM
I wonder which types of birth control are impacting 3rd-world countries the most?

Is that even the right question? Though hard to untangle, birth control is downstream of other cultural changes (giving women more education and control of their lives, economic changes that make it less "useful" to have a large family, infant mortality decreases and so forth).

I remember reading something years ago from an aid worker in India who said that he was explaining to a man with 12 kids that with condom use he could continue to have sex without having to have unwanted children. The man looked at him quizzically and said, "Well, I wanted 12 kids and now I have them, so I now I will start using condoms."

I think they are all the right questions.  There is the desire to have children and then there is the desire to have sex without having children.  Condoms have a 12% failure rate in real world practice over the course of a year.  I am sure they are better today than in the 90s, but I had my share of them breaking on me.  It was common enough for me to cause some anxiety.  Similarly, one of my children was conceived while using the 'pill' -- statistically 9% effective over the course of a year.  Anyway, my wife and I both come from a long line of extremely fertile people, her mother was conceived 14 years after a tubal ligation while her parents were in their mid 40s.   Probably TMI, sorry.  Anyway, my kids I have had a lot of talk about birth control.

Bringing it back on to the general level, I am sure you are right that economic and social changes are making it less desirable to have large families.  On a subsistence level farm a child is another hand, in a city a child is another person to feed, educate, etc..  The pressures keep going in the direction of fewer children*.  Also part of the equation is also the spread of better birth control technology than was available a few decades ago.

*It might be that in a few decades only the wealthy will have children -- that's a dystopian thought, but I can see it happening.

Japan falling birth rate: $38 Billion plan to boost births and avert society's collapse

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/38million-plan-to-boost-births-and-avert-japanese-society-s-collapse-20230602-p5ddhf.html

This year in South Korea, there are more than 250 elementary schools with only one new student.

https://old.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/154pfhb/this_year_in_south_korea_there_are_more_than_250/

The internet has made it much easier to share the drudgery that comes with children.  I'm not saying that is the reason younger people don't have kids, but ... it does make me wonder.

 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001n9kv


Another reason Korean women are not getting married;
Too long to listen to. Its a complete erosion of trust in the Korean man.

QuoteJournalist Park Hyo-sil gets a tip off that music and TV star, Jung Joon-young, is being investigated by police for secretly filming a woman during sex. We find out about Jung, his wholesome, attractive personality and wide popularity. And we meet one of his superfans whose whole life revolves around him. She, like many others, don't want to believe the accusations against Jung.
So when Park publishes her story she encounters an extraordinary backlash. And it gets worse after the woman who made the allegation against Jung withdraws it and the police drop the case. Jung's career goes from strength to strength. Except, someone has seen what's on Jung's phone...and it's far worse than just one secret sex video. The contents of that phone will shake the K-pop world and South Korea.

For the first time, we give the definitive account of the sex scandals that brought down some of Korea's biggest K-pop stars. It's a tale of depravity, power and excess - hidden behind a facade of wholesome pop music.

Off topic but...

>the drudgery that comes with children

My third one is off to college today.  It's a tear-fest in my house.

Wow! How old is the youngest now?

The youngest is will be 12 in November.  She's an amazing artist.  The weight lifter has been on her own for about three years now.  She graduated with her BS at 21 and has moved up into management at the crisis center she's been working at since she was 15.  She is currently saving up for grad school.

I brought it up because of Heather's "drudgery that comes with children".  Raising children isn't all sacrifice there are a lot of rewarding aspects to parenting too.  I get the choice of not wanting children, but sometimes I feel like people who make this choice over emphasize the negative and ignore  the positive.  The hole from this one leaving the house is definitely felt.

>Raising children isn't all sacrifice there are a lot of rewarding aspects to parenting too.

I wasn't able to have children, so ....

Sorry about that.  It seems fertility is so random.  Two of mine were conceived while using birth control.