I follow someone that tries to do field research. What I get from her and stuff she links to is there are a few things at work. More education and opportunities

I follow someone that tries to do field research. What I get from her and stuff she links to is there are a few things at work. More education and opportunities for women means they choose to have fewer kids yes. And if motherhood is heavily policed and results in lost opportunities they have even less. Myself I think the drop from a fertility rate of above 6 to less than 3 is simply that taking care of infants and toddlers gets real old real quick. If birth control is available and child mortality is low that's what women (and men) choose.