Blythe Terrell

Huh.

Okay, so if you take the U.S., the total fertility rate, which is basically like a snapshot of the kind of average number of kids one woman will have in her lifetime, is a shorthand for it.

That average is right now 1.62 births per woman.

Okay.

And that's actually the lowest it's ever been.

So the concern is that if you want the population to stay where it is, if you want it not to fall, the total fertility rate needs to be 2.1 kids per woman.

Exactly.

And just to say, like, this is talked about in terms of births per woman, but it's really per couple, per set of parents.

Because you're using that 2.1 births to replace those two people, whoever they may be.

Right.

Right.

And it's just like, it's easier to track what comes out of a uterus than what comes out of a penis.

Okay.

I'm not sure I want to know where your mind went, but I can see you thinking about that.

Let's move on.

Let's move on.

So the idea is for the population to be stable, to not go up or down, the total fertility rate needs to be 2.1.

Okay.

And according to the United Nations in 2024, the global total fertility rate was 2.2.

Oh.