Editing Child (section)

=== Fertility and number of children per woman ===
Before [[Birth control|contraception]] became widely available in the 20th century, women had little choice other than [[abstinence]] or having often many children. In fact, current [[population growth]] concerns have only become possible with drastically reduced [[child mortality]] and sustained fertility. In 2017 the global [[total fertility rate]] was estimated to be 2.37 children per woman,<ref name=":2">{{cite journal | vauthors = Vollset SE, Goren E, Yuan CW, Cao J, Smith AE, Hsiao T, Bisignano C, Azhar GS, Castro E, Chalek J, Dolgert AJ, Frank T, Fukutaki K, Hay SI, Lozano R, Mokdad AH, Nandakumar V, Pierce M, Pletcher M, Robalik T, Steuben KM, Wunrow HY, Zlavog BS, Murray CJ | display-authors = 6 | title = Fertility, mortality, migration, and population scenarios for 195 countries and territories from 2017 to 2100: a forecasting analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study | journal = Lancet | volume = 396 | issue = 10258 | pages = 1285–1306 | date = October 2020 | pmid = 32679112 | pmc = 7561721 | doi = 10.1016/s0140-6736(20)30677-2 }}</ref> adding about 80 million people to the world population per year. In order to measure the total number of children, scientists often prefer the completed cohort fertility at age 50 years (CCF50).<ref name=":2" /> Although the number of children is also influenced by [[Social norm|cultural norms]], [[religion]], [[peer pressure]] and other social factors, the CCF50 appears to be most heavily dependent on the educational level of women, ranging from 5–8 children in women without education to less than 2 in women with 12 or more years of education.<ref name=":2" />