Birth Rates

According to The Economist, a new study in Nature contradicts the popular belief that the rich have fewer children. With a rise in the Human Development Index (indicator of better life), populations in those countries began to have fewer children. As the HDI increased further, however, those same populations began to have more children, as indicated by the graph below. Many factors are suspected to be behind this trend.

On related news, Europe is showing an overall increase in its birth rate. Certainly good news for those xenophobic nativists who fear that the increases occur only within muslim immigrant populations.