eli5 Why is population growth not going out of control?

Question

Why are populations just growing by 1-2% in some nations?
Shouldn’t it grow far quicker if the average couple has 2/3 kids? Removing 25% from those who don’t want kids.
Should people “nearly double”?

In: 0

Answer 1

In the US, the replacement rate is 2.1, in other words every woman needs to have 2.1 kids to replace the people that die. But the actual fertility rate in the US is 1.7. The only reason the US’s population isn’t decreasing is because of immigration.

In general, developed countries don’t have a lot of kids. Global population growth mostly comes from developing nations.