World Fertility Report 2003

The Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is responsible for providing the international community with up-to-date and scientifically objective information on population and development. According to its mandate, the Population Division provides guidance to the United Nations General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Population and Development on population and development issues and undertakes regular studies on population levels and trends, population estimates and projections, population policies and population and development interrelationships. In particular, the Population Division is concerned with the following substantive areas: the study of patterns of fertility, mortality, international and internal migration, including their levels, trends and differentials as well as their causes and consequences; the analysis of age and parity patters of fertility, and its proximate determinants, such as, marriage and contraceptive use; estimates and projections of population size, distribution, and age sex structure; the documentation and analysis of population policies a the national and international levels; and the study of the relationship between socio-economic development and population change. The work of the Population Division is published in a variety of formats, including electronically, to met the needs of diverse audiences. These publications and materials are used by Governments, national and international organizations, research institutions and individuals engaged in social and economic planning, research and training, and by the general public. This report is the first of its kind to be issued on topics related to reproductive behavior. It presents information on fertility, marriage, contraceptive use and national policies with respect to childbearing for 192 countries of the world. The data are compiled from civil registration, population censuses and nationally representative sample surveys and, in the case of national policies, Government's responses to United Nations inquiries and other sources. For each country, available data on 24 indicators are presented for two dates. Time series of age-specific fertility rates and total fertility rates from different sources are presented for each country in graphic form. The observed series of total fertility rates are supplemented on the graphs with estimates from World Population Prospects: the 2002 Revision. In addition to this report the United Nations Population Division has issued a wall chart, World Fertility Patters 2004, which provides selected information from this report for all countries. The Population Division gratefully acknowledges the assistance and cooperation of the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Untied Nations Secretariat, the Council of Europe and the Demographic and Health Surveys in providing a large part of the data used in this report.