ABSTRACT
The decline of fertility started in France apparently in the second half of the eighteenth century. But the decrease was so slow that for a long time it was more than offset by the decrease of mortality, and, owing to the increase of the population, the actual number of births did not begin to decline until about 1885. The decline of fertility started in England in the 1880’s. The decrease was here much more rapid than in France, and the births began to decline around 1909. In other countries, such as Bulgaria, where a decisive decline in fertility started only twelve years ago, the decline was precipitated so much that births began to decrease almost at once. In the Union of South Africa, on the other hand, where fertility among the whites has been declining for three or four decades, the number of births was higher in 1936 than in any preceding year because population growth, due in part to immigration, offset the effects of the decrease in fertility. In Ireland, finally, births probably began to decline before fertility declined because the population decreased owing to an enormous emigration. Table I shows for a number of countries the average number of births in 1871-75, the maximum number of births ever attained (excluding 1920-21), the minimum number of births since 1850 (excluding 1915-19)? and the number of births in 1936. Table II shows the trend of the number of births in Western and Northern Europe, in Central and Southern Europe, and in the whole of Europe, excluding Soviet Russia.
