There are many reasons for a country’s birth rate – on either end of the spectrum – including economic shifts and the cost of raising children, access (or lack thereof) to medical care, societal expectations, religious beliefs, pollution and disease among them.

African countries have some of the highest birth rates in the world, with Niger at the top of the list with 46 births per 1,000 people (by comparison Canada's 2014 rate is 11 per 1,000), dealing with many of the aforementioned issues. But some of the countries with low birth rates – and the reasons for the dearth of births – might surprise you.