busyThe replacement rate tends to be slightly above 2 children per woman, but many developed nations have a rate below that, and some far below it. While it is great for the planet to have fewer humans, it's not great for humans. Look at any area where most of the kids move away from home, consider the problems it causes from loneliness to shortage of abled workers, and multiply that by a nation. :/
For all the bitching about unplanned pregnancies and people who can't keep their pants zipped, that stuff turns out to be necessary. When people have the ability to think ahead about the pros and cons of reproducing, and the power to choose whether or not to do so, that cuts the rate by a lot -- and the pattern across developed nations indicates that it usually falls below replacement level.
