Before you play
What This Fertility Figure Means
This game compares total fertility rate across countries.
- The figure estimates how many children a woman would have over her lifetime under current age-specific fertility rates.
- It is a demographic abstraction, not a promise about anyone's actual family.
- Housing, education, childcare, coercion, migration, and mortality all end up hiding inside the average.
A fertility rate is a social contract wearing the costume of a number.