It is now at almost two children per woman, just below the replacement level of 2.1, and looks set to rise further.

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Some England players, without naming names, have talked about the need for Eriksson's replacement to have experience of the highest level of football club management.

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The Department for Children, Schools and Families is piloting a possible replacement in the form of "single level tests" that children would take to confirm their teachers' assessment that they had reached a higher national curriculum attainment level.

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Still, because the current level is far below the level of 2.07 required to prevent population replacement, the result is net decline.

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In China and most of the industrialised world, births and deaths are at or below replacement level (though America's population still rises because of immigration).

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We estimate that a relatively low level of disparity in replacement rates will result in smaller market-share shifts in the future.

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The odd ones out are America and Britain, which both have lots of women at work and fertility rates close to replacement level (with immigration making up the rest).

ECONOMIST: Most of the rich world is short of babies

France and most of the Nordic countries have embraced such policies and been rewarded with a rise in fertility close to replacement level.

ECONOMIST: Most of the rich world is short of babies