Peace Without Poison

40% while fertility declined from 5 to 4 children per woman. While contraceptive use has sincegrown to 55% it can still not possibly account for the decrease from 4 to the current 2.7 childrenper woman. For that to occur, you would need 80% of the population to use contraceptives andto do so diligently. Furthermore, contraceptive use cannot possibly push the total fertility ratebelow the desired family size and Syrians, like all other middle easterners, prefer large families.Abortion is a non-factor in Syria’s fertility decline since it is illegal and performed only to save awoman’s life.Syria’s prosperity began to rise as soon as fertility decreased by more than half (from 7.5 to 3children per woman), a threshold reached at the beginning of the 21 st century.Syria is in stage three of the demographic transition.813 | P a g e