World Population Profile: 1996

Table B-3a.                     
Distribution of Countries by Region and
Recency of Reliable Data on Fertility                                  
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                                           Year of latest data        
                              -------------------------------------------
                                                                   Before
                                                                  1980 or
Region                           Total  1990-95  1985-89  1980-84    none
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                                              NUMBER OF COUNTRIES
                               ------------------------------------------
WORLD                              227      137       42       19      29
   Less Developed                  171       84       40       18      29
   More Developed                   56       53        2        1       -
                                                                  
AFRICA                              57       23       10       12      12
   Sub-Saharan Africa               51       20        9       12      10
   North Africa                      6        3        1        -       2
NEAR EAST                           16       11        1        1       3
ASIA                                27       14        5        -       8
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN     45       28       14        2       1
EUROPE AND NEW INDEPENDENT STATES   56       55        -        1       -
   Western                          28       27        -        1       -
   Eastern                          13       13        -        -       -
   New Independent States           15       15        -        -       -
      Baltics                        3        3        -        -       -
      Commonwealth of Ind. States   12       12        -        -       -
NORTH AMERICA                        5        3        2        -       -
OCEANIA                             21        3       10        3       5
                                                                   
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                                              PERCENT OF COUNTRIES
                               ------------------------------------------
WORLD                              100       60       19        8      13
   Less Developed                  100       49       23       11      17
   More Developed                  100       95        4        2       0
                               
AFRICA                             100       40       18       21      21
   Sub-Saharan Africa              100       39       18       24      20
   North Africa                    100       50       17        -      33
NEAR EAST                          100       69        6        6      19
ASIA                               100       52       19        -      30
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN    100       62       31        4       2
EUROPE AND NEW INDEPENDENT STATES  100       98        -        2       -
   Western                         100       96        -        4       -
   Eastern                         100      100        -        -       -
   New Independent States          100      100        -        -       -
      Baltics                      100      100        -        -       -
      Commonwealth of Ind. States  100      100        -        -       -
NORTH AMERICA                      100       60       40        -       -
OCEANIA                            100       14       48       14      24    
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- Represents zero.             
Z less than 500,000 or less than 0.5 percent.
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, World Population Profile: 1996.