Read the following passage and answer the comprehension questions that follow. 
A. Demographers closely watch increases and decreases in the world’s populations. In recentdecades, they have become extremely interested in a rapidly changing statistic—the fertility ratein countries.
B. The fertility rate of a country is measured by averaging the number of babies that women haveover their lifetimes. From 1950 to 1999, the world fertility rate declined from approximately 5.0to 2.8, a decrease of about 44 percent. A fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman is considered“replacement fertility,” the rate at which a population remains stable.
C. Currently, about half of the people of the world live in countries with “sub-replacementfertility,” birth rates under 2.1 percent. Urbanized, industrial countries generally have muchlower fertility rates than rural, agricultural societies. Hong Kong, for example, has a fertility rateof only .98 while Niger, in sub-Saharan Africa has a fertility rate of 7.46, the world’s highest.
D. Demographers have a wide variety of explanations for the declines in birth rates. Thetruth is most likely a combination of them. The number of urban areas is increasing. In urbanareas, land is expensive, so families cannot afford an apartment or house for a large family. Inmany societies, there is less pressure on men and women to get married and have children.Contraception is more widely available, so couples are able to have children only when they trulywant them. The changing role of women in many societies is a factor cited by many populationexperts. More of the world’s women are going to college and getting jobs outside the home, bothof which may push couples to delay having children or to decide to have fewer children.
E. Demographers are not in agreement over the long-term effects of falling fertility rates, butsome trends are clear now. In many industrialized countries, the population is aging rapidly. A relatively small number of young people will be working to pay for the social services andmedical care of an increasingly large elderly population. Wealthy, urbanized countries may needa large influx of young immigrants from poorer, agricultural countries in order to keep theirsocieties operating smoothly.
F. An additional effect of falling birth rates is the increased attention that parents lavish ontheir smaller number of children. In industrialized countries, parents are spending more timewith children, buying them better clothes, and sending them to better schools than in the past.In addition, when a child dies, it is a much greater tragedy for the family than in the days whenthere were seven or eight children in a family.
G. For the long term, the effect of declining birth rates is difficult to predict. Some demographersbelieve that the world’s population will level off or slightly decline. Others believe that it willcontinue to grow, but at a slower pace. Economists and sociologists tend to worry about thecosts and social disruption that may accompany an aging population while a large number ofenvironmentalists think that fewer people will mean a healthier world with less pollution. Theone thing that almost everyone agrees on is that the future will bring big changes and that weneed to keep studying the situation.


1. What is the best title for this reading? 
A. Population Problems for Our Future
B. Fertility Rates and the World
C. Falling Fertility Will Mean a Better World
D. Rural to Urban Immigration

2. Which of the following is not mentioned in this article as a cause for declining birth rates? 
A. women working more
B. availability of birth control
C. increasing urbanization
D. increasing levels of pollution

3. What is the best synonym for the word in italics in the sentence below?
A relatively small number of young people will be working to pay for the social services and medicalcare of an increasingly large elderly population. 
A. immigrant
B. industrialized
C. aged
D. fertile

4. Which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with? 
A. The short-term effects of declining fertility rates are easier to understand than thelong-term effects.
B. The main cause of the decline in world fertility rates is the increasing independence of women.
C. The world’s population will decrease significantly in the next century.
D. We understand the causes and effects of declining fertility rates quite well.

5. In the following sentence, what does the pronoun them refer to?
Demographers have a wide variety of explanations for the declines in birth rates. The truth is mostlikely a combination of them. 

A. explanations
B. demographers
C. birth rates
D. declines