In my last instalment of the population growth series, I cover what the definition of total fertility rate is and the different aspects that influence it.
In this instalment I will explain what birth rate is and how it is different from fertility rate.
There are many definitions out there, but the most spread out is the crude brith rate (per 1,000 women). Again, I will keep it simple and define it as:
The number of babies born per 1,000 women in a given population.
So for instance, when we look at the 2018 birth rate by country chart below, Niger shows that 46 babies were born per 1,000 women during that year, compared to only 11 for the UK or France.
As with the total fertility rate, there are a number of drivers that influence birth rate such as social, cultural, political or biological factors. These were covered in the previous instalment so I won’t extent.
But I will conclude on the difference between total fertility rate and total birth rate. This is fundamentally on the way births are measured and expressed as a figure:
- Total fertility rate is calculated by dividing the total number of births in a year by total number of women in fertile age (e.g. 15–49) in a given population.
- Birth rate is calculated by dividing the number of babies born by the total number of women in a population, then multiplied by 1,000.
I hope this is clear, please leave a comment below if you have any questions.
