“We happen to be alive at this really transitional moment,” said Prof Jane Falkingham, the director of the Centre for Population Change at the University of Southampton. “We’re moving from a world with high fertility and high mortality to a world of low mortality and low fertility. We have to get our heads around how we’re going to make that transition from the old world to the new world.”
Earlier this week, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the fertility rate for England and Wales had fallen for the third year in a row to reach a record low of 1.41. The rate represents the average number of live children women can expect to have in their child-bearing life.
