The United Nations says people in developing countries are waiting longer to marry and then having fewer children, mirroring a trend in developed nations.
The Department of Economic and Social Affairs at U.N. World Headquarters in New York Tuesday released a study entitled "World Fertility Report 2003."
The report said the median proportion of still-single women between the ages of 25 and 29 in 192 nations rose to 24 percent during the 1990s from 15 percent during the 1970s. The figures for men were up to 44 percent from 32 percent during the same period.
More dramatically, the figures jumped to 38 percent from 15 percent among women in developed countries and to 57 percent from 26 percent among men in those nations during the same time periods.
The governments of 72 percent of the 192 countries were supporting family planning directly by distributing contraceptives and 17 percent were supporting it indirectly though non-governmental organizations.
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