World
Global birth rates fall together; smartphones and social media may be a cause
Falling birth rates are spreading worldwide, and smartphones and social media are emerging as a key variable, a report said. More than two-thirds of countries are below the total fertility rate of 2.1 needed to maintain population. The decline is appearing in both advanced and developing countries, and researchers say economic conditions and housing costs alone cannot explain the simultaneous drop. Studies link earlier and steeper declines to regions where mobile internet spread quickly.
