Chapter Four

Fertility

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 Chapter Four
Fertility
4.1 Concepts of Fertility and Fecundity
• Fertility: the actual birth performance of couples.
• Fecundity: the psychological capacity to reproduce.
• Fertility refers to the measurement of live births only.
• Infecundity (sterility): lack of capacity to conceive.
• Parents may be exposed to a birth event more than
once in their lifetime
• This complicates the measurement and analysis of
fertility contrary to mortality.
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Fertility
4.2 Sources of Data for Fertility Studies
• Principally and conventionally, two different sources
of data are required in the measurement of fertility
1. The birth events that come from vital statistics
registration system.
----- common in developed countries-----
2. The population exposed to birth from population
census or sample surveys.
--can be used in both developing & developed nations--

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Fertility
4.3 Measures of Fertility
• Two ways of approaching the study of fertility based
on birth statistics: period and cohort fertility.
• Period fertility analysis: a cross-sectional basis.
• Cohort analysis: on a longitudinally basis, i.e., all
births occurring to a specific group of women.
4.3.1 Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
CBR  Birthsin a year 1000
Population at mid year
• This is crude because it includes all ages & both
sexes in the denominator.
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Fertility
4.3.2 Child Woman Ratio
• This is the simplest and commonly used measure that
could be obtained using census data.
P
Child Woman Ratio  04 1000
P
f 1549
4.3.3 General Fertility Rate (GFR)
GFR  Birthsin a year(B) 1000
Female population aged15 49(P )
f 1549
• GFR is better than CBR since it considers the women
exposed to risk of birth in the denominator.
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Fertility
4.3.4 Age Specific Fertility Rates (ASFR)
• Fertility rates can be calculated for specific age
groups.
• The reproductive age interval (15 – 49) can be either
divided into single year, or 5 - year or wider intervals.
• ASFR is required to see differences in fertility
behavior at different ages or for comparison over time
B
ASFR  x  1000
Pxf
• Example
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Fertility
Age Number of Number of births
ASFR
Group(Years) Women in the year
15-19 1370431 119531 87.2
20-24 1125800 258868 229.9
25-29 1204109 312320 259.4
30-34 1118370 266456 238.3
35-39 967798 200381 207
40-44 789732 103811 131.5
45-49 525971 45653 86.8
Total Fertility 6.2
…….. ………
Rate

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Fertility
Graphically,

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Fertility
4.3.5 Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
i4549
5  ASFR
  i
TFR  i 15 19
1000

• In the formula, it is necessary to divide by 1,000

because TFR is always expressed per a single woman.
• Year-to-year fluctuations in the TFR may reflect
changes in the timing of births rather than changes in
the average number of children women bear.

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Fertility
4.4 Reproduction Rates
• Reproductivity is the extent to which a group is
replacing its own numbers by natural processes.
• The 2 natural forces are fertility and mortality.
• Reproductivity is measured by reproduction rates.
4.4.1 Gross Reproduction Rate (GRR)
• GRR is a special case of TFR, and it considers female
age-specific fertility rates only.
i4549
5  ASFFR i
GRR  i1519
1000
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Fertility
f
GRR  TFR  B
Bt

• If the true sex ratio at birth is not known, it is

acceptable to assume 105.
• GRR greater than 1.0 daughter per woman is required
to achieve replacement level.
• TFR greater than 2.0 children per woman is required
to ensure the capacity of a population to replace itself.
• Example

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Fertility
Age Group(Years) Number of Number of Age Specific
Women female Female Fertility
births Rate Per 1000
15-19 2,937,291 71, 649 24.39
20-24 2,166,982 167,849 77.46
25-29 2,006,141 193,453 96.43
30-34 1,600,019 137,296 85.81
35-39 1,458,784 103,527 70.97
40-44 1,153,313 42,846 37.15
45-49 763,543 23,648 30.97
Total 12,086,073 740,383 423.18
Gross …….. ……… 2.116
Reproduction Rate

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Fertility
4.4.2 Net Reproduction Rate (NRR)
• NRR is average number of daughters expected to be
born alive to a hypothetical cohort of women if the
same schedule of age-specific fertility and mortality
rates are applied throughout the childbearing years.
• For five-year age groups:
i4549 Bif Lx
NRR  5    5
i1519 Pif 100,000  l0
• Where, 5Lx/l0 is a life-table survival rate.
• Example
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Age Age Person-years Female
Group(Years) Specific living with a births to
(1) Female radix of women in
Fertility 100,000 stationary
f
Rates ( BP )
i
f
( 100,000L  l )
5 x
population
i 0

(2) (3) (4)=(2)x (3)

15-19
NRR = 5 x 0.1631
0.0244
=
0.4112 0.010033
20-24 0.8155, i.e., 0.82
0.0774 daughter
0.4005 0.030999
25-29 0.0964 per woman 0.3902 0.037615
30-34 0.0858 0.3832 0.032879
35-39 0.0709 0.3766 0.026701
40-44 0.0371 0.3694 0.013705
45-49 0.0309 0.3609 0.011152
Total ……… .…….. 0.163083
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• Reproductivity is usually studied in terms of

mothers and daughters because:
 the fecund period for females is shorter
than it is for males,
 demographic & other characteristics (age,
marital status, etc.) are much more likely to
be known for mothers than for fathers,
especially in the case of non-marital births.
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