We’ve heard off and on for years – decades – about how the world’s population is growing too quickly for the world’s resources to be able to keep up.

Not only that, but as concerns over the impact humans have on the planet grow with climate change research, so have worries over procreation.

Recent research shows that the world’s population may be self-correcting on that front, and here’s why.

The latest forecasts from the UN show that although eight billion humans currently inhabit Earth, only another 2 billion will join us in the next 60 years. Not only that, but they believe that our population will peak before the year 2100 before starting its decline.

To be fair, this has always been the forecast, but it’s now looking like it will happen sooner than previously thought.

The reason?

Fertility rates are dropping by drastic numbers all over the globe. Every woman of childbearing age needs to have around 2.1 children for any given country to maintain its population, and currently, experts are saying in nearly half of countries, women are not hitting this mark.

Nearly one-fifth of all countries are classified as having “ultra-low fertility,” meaning fewer than 1.4 live births per woman. China is one of the most startling countries to enter this list, given their staggering population overall.

China, along with other populous countries like Russia and Japan, have already hit their peak population and begun a downward trend, meaning their populations will decrease by around 14% by 2054.

Experts believe a phenomenon called demographic transition is a likely culprit. This happens when a nation moves farther into industrialization, leading to more career opportunities for women. Women there choose to start families later in life, which can naturally mean fewer children, and with fewer families farming for a living, fewer children are needed for labor at home.

Life expectancy is also increasing, which changes the demographic makeup of a given population. Older people now represent a larger piece of the pie, which is an issue of its own that governments around the world will likely have to tackle.

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