The world’s birth rate is just about equal to, or possibly even below, the level at which the human population will hold steady — right about 2.1 babies per woman.

The United States’s birth rate has been falling for 18 years, is at a record low, and is still falling. Fewer children exist in the U.S. than did a decade ago. Every wealthy country, except Israel, has a birth rate below the replacement level, and most are well below. Nobody seems to have found a way to reverse this trend.