In 1950, seven out of ten people in the world lived in farming communities, and women on average bore five children. In the United States of 1800, nine-tenths of Americans lived on farms, and the average woman bore seven children during her lifetime. By 1900, when only half of Americans lived on farms, fertility had fallen to four children per woman, and in 2000 to only two children. The same thing is happening around the world. By 2007, the majority of the world’s people lived in towns or cities for the first time in history, and global fertility had fallen to 2.5 children per woman. And by
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