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In the 21st century, planet Earth has never carried so many people. Tomorrow, there will be even more: the world’s population continues to grow. However, this growth is taking place at a much slower rate than in the 1950s and 1960s. The first factor is the slowdown in the increase in life expectancy at birth. The second is the fall in the birth rate. Changes in the birth rate are therefore the most decisive factor in variations in the rate of growth of the world’s population. The case of Europe is particularly interesting: in some European countries, the rate of natural population growth has fallen to such an extent that it has become negative, mainly due to a marked decline in the birth rate. How did we get here? How can we explain this particularly low birth rate? This is precisely the subject of this issue of Analyses de Population & Avenir.