For example, official birthrate data delivered in Tokyo marked the latest in a series of alarming milestones:

with 921,000 births last year, Japan has posted the lowest birth rate since the country began keeping track in 1899 - coming in below 1 million for the third year in a row.

In the US, the most disturbing data released so far this year pertained to the general fertility rate, which dropped 2% between 2017 and 2018 among females aged 15 to 44.

Now, the latest disappointing data out of the G-7, the Daily Mail reports that the birth rate in England and Wales tumbled to the lowest level since they started keeping records 80 years ago. That is to say, there were only 11 babies born last year for every 1,000 people in England and Wales.

In total 657,076 children were born – down 3.2% on a year earlier and nearly 10% from 2012 - even as the news of Princess  Megan Markle's pregnancy left the country with a collective sense of baby fever. The UK's total fertility rate 1.70 children per woman.

The Office for National Statistics said falling fertility rates were mainly responsible for the fall, but difficulties conceiving among older couples who chose to delay family formation to focus on their careers or other objectives was one reason for the drop.