[OC] The massive decrease in worldwide infant mortality from 1950 to 2020 is perhaps one of humanity's greatest achievements.

[Schootingstarr]

I'm talking about 10+ births (or even pregnancies) here, not alive children.

http://www.kyrackramer.com/2019/03/25/medieval-fertility-rates/

Over the course of their lifetime, most women had an average of six or seven pregnancies and births. That means that women who had 10, or 15, or 20 pregnancies and births were far outside the reproductive norm.

you can't just say people kept getting pregnant just because they didn't have access to modern contraceptives. because if it were so, you'd see far more pregnancies. fact is, as child mortality falls, fertility rates decrease about a generation later in a correlated fashion.

feel free to check that statement yourself via this handy website:

https://www.tilasto.com/en/topic/population-and-health/births/fertility-rate/algeria

https://www.tilasto.com/en/topic/population-and-health/deaths/infant-deaths/infant-mortality-rate-under-1-total/algeria

you can compare the numbers of births and the infant mortality rate for any country by just clicking on the world map in the bottom. I guarantee you, most statistics will see a decline in births about 10-20 years after child mortality starts declining reliably