Declining Birth Rates Are No Cause for Celebration By Ocean Postman Stats SA has reported a decline in South Africa’s fertility rate from 2,78 children per woman to 2,21 in the Mid-Year Population Estimates report , 2025. They confirm that this decline is part of a trend that began in 2020 that has seen the average number of children a woman would have in her life declining over the past five years. One might view this as a positive outcome, credited to a concerted effort by the government to ensure greater access in the provision of contraceptives. Evidence of the government’s commitments on paper to expanding contraceptive access includes its adoption of the Family Planning 2020 Initiative, a multinational effort to expand access to reproductive related healthcare. The state’s “rights-based” approach to healthcare policy related to reproductive care is, on its face, promising. It would certainly be a great stride forward in the aim towards women’s rights if this we...
Where current affairs meet mindful analysis. The author, Ocean Postman, is a political analyst based in Cape Town.