Using an unbalanced panel covering the period 1870‐2000, we find that democracy favours fertility declines. This result suggests that democratic and autocratic environments might affect differently the proximate determinants of fertility. In our analysis we show that democracy affects fertility after controlling for education, mortality risk and GDP per capita. This paper adds to the literature that addresses the issue of identifying how democracy might affect development by identifying and assessing the relevance of a specific mechanism: that is, fostering the fertility transition.