Our focus

Over the last few decades, the birth rates of most East and Southeast Asian countries have dropped dramatically. While women often had five children or more just a generation ago, they now have one or two – and many are not having children at all. At first, the decline in fertility was tied to a country’s economic development and progress, but now, the continued drop in fertility may be putting future prosperity at risk. After all: Who will drive the economy, pay taxes and take care of an ageing population when the old outnumber the young?

Like their counterparts in other parts of the world, young people across Asia face a multitude of choices and challenges as they decide whether to have children. Can we afford it? Can we combine work and family life? What about parental leave and affordable childcare? And will we even be able to have children when we want them, or will we need medical assistance?

We want to shed light on these issues and help our local partners to better understand the drivers and impacts of the dynamics they will be facing. We commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit to study the demographic trends, childbearing choices, and family-related policy decisions of various countries in East and Southeast Asia.

Dive in to find out why fertility rates are dropping across Asia, why this matters, and how to support those wanting to have children.

Total Fertility (live birth per woman)
Birth rates at a historic low
Populations are ageing in Asia as couples marry later and birth rates fall. Most countries in the region are already below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman. Learn more

1 https://population.un.org/wpp/DataQuery/, accessed May 2019

Produced by (E) BrandConnect, a commercial division of The Economist Group, which operates separately from the editorial staffs of The Economist and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Neither (E) BrandConnect nor its affiliates accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any party on this content.

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