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Encyclopedia > Total Fertility Rate
Map of countries and territories by fertility rate
Map of countries and territories by fertility rate

The total fertility rate (TFR, also called fertility rate or total period fertility rate) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime. It is obtained by summing the age-specific rates for a given time-point. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1357x628, 49 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Fertility rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate User:Astrokey44/maps ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1357x628, 49 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Fertility rate List of countries and territories by fertility rate User:Astrokey44/maps ... Fertility is the ability of people or animals to produce healthy offspring in abundance. ...


The TFR is a synthetic rate, not something that is actually counted. It is not based on the fertility of any real group of women, since this would involve waiting until they had completed chilbearing. The TFR is therefore a measure of the fertility of an imaginary woman who passes through her reproductive life and is subject to all age-specific fertility rates that were actually recorded in a given year. Therefore, the TFR represents the average number of children a woman would have were she to fast-forward through all her childbearing years, assuming the age-specific fertility rates for a given year. This rate then, is the number of children a woman would have if she was subject to prevailing fertility rates at all ages, and survives throughout all her childbearing years; a more accurate fertility measure is the Natural Rate of Reproduction (NRR) which measures the numbers of daughters a woman would have if she was subject to prevailing fertility rates, and takes into account prevailing mortality rates.


It is a better index of fertility than the birth rate (annual number of births per thousand women of childbearing age) because it is independent of the age structure of the population, but it is a poorer estimate of actual completed family size than the total cohort fertility rate, which is obtained by summing the age-specific fertility rates that actually applied to each cohort as they aged through time. In particular, the TPFR does not predict how many children young women now will eventually have, as their fertility rates in years to come may well differ from those of older women now. However, the TPFR is a good summary of current fertility.


Replacement rates

Replacement fertility is the total fertility rate at which women would have only enough children to replace themselves and their partner. By definition, replacement is only considered to have occurred when the offspring reach 15 years of age. If all offspring survived to the age of 15 the replacement rate would be exactly 2, but in practice it is affected by childhood mortality. The replacement fertility rate is roughly 2.1 births per woman for most industrialized countries and has not been evaluated for poorer countries. At this rate, populations growth through reproduction will be approximately zero, but will also be affected by male-female ratios. Sub-replacement fertility is a fertility rate that is not high enough to replace an areas population. ...


Developed countries usually have a much lower fertility rate due to greater wealth and their individualistic culture. Mortality rates are low, birth control is easily accessible, and children often can become an economic drain caused by education costs, clothing and feeding. Longer periods of time spent getting higher education often mean young people are marrying later in life giving them less time to have kids. In developing countries on the other hand, children are a necessity as labour in fields and as caregivers and providers of their parents in old age. Fertility rates are also higher due to the lack of access to contraceptives. A developed country is a country that has achieved (currently or historically) a high degree of industrialization, and which enjoys the higher standards of living which wealth and technology make possible. ... Individualism is a moral, political, and social philosophy, which emphasizes individual liberty, the primary importance of the individual, and the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence. It assumes that a person can be socially and culturally free of upbringing: deep-structure language(s), family(s) of origin, and both... The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Mortality rate (the word mortality comes from mortal, which originates from Latin mors, death) is the number of deaths (from a disease or in general) per 1000 people and typically reported on an annual basis. ... Birth control is a regimen of one or more actions, devices, or medications followed in order to deliberately prevent or reduce the likelihood of a woman giving birth or becoming pregnant. ... A developing country is a country with low average income compared to the world average. ...


The total fertility rate in the United States after World War II peaked at about 3.8 children per woman in the late 1950s and by 1999 was at 2 children. This means that a woman who was 15 years old in the late 1950s would have been expected to have about four children by the time she reached 44 years of age, whereas a 15-year-old woman in 1999 will be expected to have only about two children in her lifetime. A population that maintained a TFR of 3.8 over a long time would increase rapidly, whereas a population that maintained a TFR of 2.0 over a long time would decline (discounting the effects of immigration). The TFR required for a population to remain constant in size is 2.1. From the day that a population achieves replacement-level fertility, however, that population will continue to grow for several generations, approximately 50 to 200 years. This phenomenon is called population momentum or population-lag effect. This time-lag effect is of great importance to human populations. Combatants Allies: Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France/Free France, United States, China, Canada, India, Australia, Poland, New Zealand, South Africa, Greece, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Burma, Slovakia Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8...


See also

The crude birth rate measures the number of live births registered during a year, per 1,000 estimated resident population. ... Map of countries and territories by fertility rate This is a list of countries and territories by fertility rate in terms of children born per woman (2005 estimates). ... Demography is the study of human population dynamics. ...

External links

  • World Factbook table of Total Fertility Rate ordered by country name
  • World Factbook table of Total Fertility Rate ordered by country rank

  Results from FactBites:
 
Total Fertility Rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (659 words)
The total fertility rate (TFR, also called fertility rate or total period fertility rate) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime.
The TFR is therefore a measure of the fertility of an imaginary woman who passes through her reproductive life and is subject to all age-specific fertility rates that were actually recorded in a given year.
Fertility rates are also higher due to the lack of access to contraceptives.
Birth Rate / Fertility / Family Size (3401 words)
The fertility rates are at or under the replacement rate in every developed nation in the world, and fall as those in less-developed nations increase the literacy and educational attainment of their populations.
The Total Fertility Rate (total fertility rate) of Bhutan, Maldives and Pakistan, 1995-2000.
Total fertility rate in Kuwait in 2000, a decline from 6.6 in 1980.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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