3.7 Total Fertility Rate

Total fertility rate is..

the avg number of children a woman in a population will bear throughout her lifetime

The higher the TFR (total fertility rate) =

the higher the birthrate and the higher the pop. growth rate (generally)

Two factors that affect TFR

development and government policy

How does development tie into TFR?

more developed, or wealthy nations have a lower TFR than less developed nations because..

There is more educational access for women

(a) More education = less likelihood of unplanned pregnancy

(b) More education = less likely to want to settle down and have children due to job opportunity

More economic opportunity for women

Higher access to family planning education and contraceptives

Later age of first pregnancy

Less need for child labor

What does affluence mean?

wealth

How does government policy tie into TFR?

through coercive (forceful) or noncorrosive (encouraging) policies

Forced or voluntary sterilization

China’s 1 child policy

Tax incentives to have fewer children

Micro credits or loans to women without children to start businesses

What is replacement level fertility?

the TFR required to offset deaths in a pop. and keep pop. size stable

About 2.1 in developed countries / stable

Higher in less developed countries, due to higher infant mortality / 2.5-2.7

Infant mortality rate (IMF)

the number of deaths of children under 1 year per 1000 people in pop.

IMF is higher in less developed countries due..

to lack of access to healthcare, clean water, enough food

The higher the IMF =

the higher the TFR due to families having replacement children

Factors to IMR decline

access to the clean water, access to healthcare (hospitals, vaccines, vitamins, and supplements), more reliable food supply