Peace Without Poison

and his accelerated and intensified program pushed the total fertility rate from 3 to 2 children perwoman in just five years and to a lowest low of 1.8 by 1999.Since 2004, President Nazarbayev has relaxed his country’s program of population control andthe total fertility rate has bounced up to 2.6 children per woman.Kazakhstan’s drop in fertility cannot be attributed to contraceptives since the contraceptiveprevalence rate has never exceeded 66% and has been at c. 50% since the beginning of the 21 stcentury when the total fertility rate dropped to replacement level.The historical record shows that abortion has played an important role during the 1980s and1990s, when the rate was around 50%, but has since been less of a factor as the rate decreased to30% in the first decade of the 21 st century and to 20% in this second decade. Thus, asKazakhstan adopted Western methods of covert chemical sterilization and pregnancies becameless common the incidence of abortions also decreased.Kazakhstan is in stage three of the demographic transition.397 | P a g e