Over the past two generations, something remarkable has happened across the developed world: People have stopped having children. In the United States today, the average woman is expected to give birth to about 1.6 children over her lifetime—far below the level needed for a population to replace itself, and the lowest figure ever recorded. Sixty years ago, at the end of the baby boom, that number was more than twice as high. The details differ from country to country, but the direction is the same almost everywhere. French fertility has fallen from nearly three children per woman to fewer than two; Italy’s from around 2.4 to close to one. The most extreme case is South Korea, where fertility has collapsed from six to well below one child per woman. At the same time, people are living much longer—roughly 13 additional years in high-income countries. We are producing fewer children while extending the span of life, a combination bound to make our society older than any in history....

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