Measurement Methods
The crude birth rate may be measured as the number of births in a given population during a given time period (such as a calendar year), divided by the total population and multiplied by 1,000.
According to the United Nations' World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision Population Database, the crude birth rate is the number of births over a given period, divided by the person-years lived by the population over that period. It is expressed as the number of births per 1,000 population.
Another frequently-used indicator is the total fertility rate, the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime. The total fertility rate is generally a better indicator of current fertility rates because unlike the crude birth rate, it is not affected by the age distribution of the population. Fertility rates tend to be higher in less economically-developed countries and lower in more economically-developed countries.
Read more about this topic: Birth Rate
Famous quotes containing the words measurement and/or methods:
“That’s the great danger of sectarian opinions, they always accept the formulas of past events as useful for the measurement of future events and they never are, if you have high standards of accuracy.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say—and to feel—”Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.””
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)