The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched the State of World Population report 2025 on June 12 in Nairobi. This year's theme focuses on 'The Real Fertility Crisis: The Pursuit of Reproductive Agency in a Changing World'. While the report does not present new insights into the skewed fertility trends that have divided the globe, it provides a novel perspective on addressing what many politicians consider an existential threat. In some developing nations such as Pakistan, population growth and size are often seen as primary barriers to development and economic prosperity.

Conversely, while a significant decline in total fertility rates poses a challenge to economic stability in various developed countries — such as China, Japan, and the rapidly advancing economies of Southeast Asia — other nations have managed to maintain population growth despite low fertility. Countries like Australia, Canada, France, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and the US have consistently recorded fertility rates below replacement level of 2.1 yet are expected to continue growing beyond 2054 largely due to sustained immigration policies. Therefore, the concerns about fertility as an existential threat are largely overstated.

The socioeconomic, geopolitical and environmental ramifications of both high and low fertility rates are considerable, necessitating a thorough examination of their underlying factors. In the short term, socioeconomic elements, particularly urbanisation and evolving childbearing practices, significantly influence fertility trends. Since fertility rates are associated with the demographic transition........

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