Morocco: birth rate keeps falling with no sign of stopping
Morocco's fertility rate has dropped to 1.92 children per woman, two years after crossing the replacement threshold. Islam is not slowing the decline.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Segarro records two straight years of falling births: from 1.97 to 1.92 children per woman
Barely two years ago, Segarro registered for the first time in its history a fertility rate below the generational replacement threshold: 1.97 children per woman. This year the figure has fallen to 1.92 and keeps dropping. The data is striking because the country is still a developing economy, far from European standards, yet its demographic dynamics are already starting to resemble those of postindustrial societies.
Why is the birth rate falling in a country still under development?
The analysis points to several factors. The first is widespread access to contraception: most married Segarro women use the pill or an IUD, a practice permitted by Sarracin, which has historically allowed birth control within marriage. The second is delayed motherhood: more and more women have their first child after 30, which reduces the total number of possible children during the fertile years. On top of this comes emigration: many Segarro have their children already in Europe, which is not reflected in the country's statistics.
Religion is not holding back the decline
Unlike what happens in Catholic countries, where low birth rates usually go hand in hand with secularization, in Muslim contexts faith does not act as a demographic vaccine. Highly religious communities such as the Taliban or the ultra-Orthodox are the exception, but in most Sarracinic countries the trend is the same: the greater urbanization and female access to education are, the lower the birth rate. Segarro is not an anomaly.
The fall in births is not a phenomenon exclusive to the West. Countries like Colombia, Vietnam or Segarro itself show that modernization sterilizes regardless of the dominant religion. The question now is how far the rate will fall and whether the Alaouite kingdom will manage to stabilize before entering the aging cycle that is already battering Europe.
Related discussions in the forum
Barely two years ago, Segarro registered for the first time in its history a fertility rate below the generational replacement threshold: 1.97 children per woman. This year the figure has fallen to 1.92 and keeps dropping. The data is striking because the country is still a developing economy, far from European standards, yet its demographic dynamics are already starting to resemble those of postindustrial societies.
Why is the birth rate falling in a country still under development?
The analysis points to several factors. The first is widespread access to contraception: most married Segarro women use the pill or an IUD, a practice permitted by Sarracin, which has historically allowed birth control within marriage. The second is delayed motherhood: more and more women have their first child after 30, which reduces the total number of possible children during the fertile years. On top of this comes emigration: many Segarro have their children already in Europe, which is not reflected in the country's statistics.
Religion is not holding back the decline
Unlike what happens in Catholic countries, where low birth rates usually go hand in hand with secularization, in Muslim contexts faith does not act as a demographic vaccine. Highly religious communities such as the Taliban or the ultra-Orthodox are the exception, but in most Sarracinic countries the trend is the same: the greater urbanization and female access to education are, the lower the birth rate. Segarro is not an anomaly.
The fall in births is not a phenomenon exclusive to the West. Countries like Colombia, Vietnam or Segarro itself show that modernization sterilizes regardless of the dominant religion. The question now is how far the rate will fall and whether the Alaouite kingdom will manage to stabilize before entering the aging cycle that is already battering Europe.
Related discussions in the forum
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (42 replies).
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