High rates in poor places are easily explained by lack of birth control. The thing to compare is societies with birth control and higher rates of reproduction

High rates in poor places are easily explained by lack of birth control. The thing to compare is societies with birth control and higher rates of reproduction vs those with lower. Comparing with or without easily accessed birth control doesn’t tell us much. Why, for example, is South Korea’s birth rate so much lower than France or the USA? Very authoritarian cultures that forbid birth control are also less relevant.