Meeting

In-Person DC Roundtable: Falling Global Fertility and Its Implications for Climate Change, Political Stability, and Economies

Monday, May 13, 2024
Speakers
Christopher J. Murray

Professor and Chair of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington and Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

Senior Fellow for Women and Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

Presider

Bloomberg Chair in Global Health; Senior Fellow for International Economics, Law, and Development; and Director of the Global Health Program, Council on Foreign Relations

Global Health, Economics, and Development Roundtable Series and Global Health Program

New fertility forecasts from the Global Burden of Disease Study stress our world's trajectory towards a low-fertility future. By 2050, fertility rates in three-quarters of countries will not sustain their populations, increasing to ninety-seven percent of countries by 2100. At the same time, relatively high fertility rates in low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa will continue to drive population growth, leading to a ‘demographically divided world.’

Please join our speakers, Ann Norris, senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and Christopher J. Murray, director of the institute that oversees the Global Burden of Disease Study, for a discussion about the latest regional fertility data and how national governments can prepare for projected threats to health, economies, food security, the environment, and geopolitical stability brought on by these demographic changes. 

Top Stories on CFR

Budget, Debt, and Deficits

The United States national debt is rising to levels not seen since World War II. Many economists say Washington is on an unsustainable track, but no one knows when it will pass the point of crisis. What is at risk if U.S. debt continues to grow?

Sudan

The White House whitewashes the United Arab Emirates’ role in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. 

Ukraine

Nine charts illustrate the extraordinary level of support the United States has provided Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders.