Abbreviated Name:
Total fertility rate
Indicator Name:
Total fertility rate
Domain:
Health determinants and risks / Demographic and socioeconomic determinants
Related Terms:
Fertility, births, crude birth rate, net reproductive rate
Definition:
Average number of children that a hypothetical cohort of women would have at the end of their reproductive period if they were subject during their whole lives to the fertility rates of a given period and if they were not subject to mortality. It is expressed as children per woman.
Measurment Method:
Total fertility is directly calculated as the sum of age-specific fertility rates (usually referring to women aged 15 to 49 years), or five times the sum if data are given in five-year age groups. An age- or age-group-specific fertility rate is calculated as the ratio of annual births to women at a given age or age-group to the population of women at the same age or age-group, in the same year, for a given country, territory, or geographic area. Population data from the United Nations correspond to mid-year estimated values obtained by linear interpolation from the corresponding United Nations fertility medium-variant quinquennial population projections.
Numerator:
Sum of agespecific birth rates (5-year age groups between 10 and 49) for female residents of a specified geographic area (nation, state, county, etc.) during a specified time period (usually a calendar year) multiplied by 5
Denominator
Numerator is divided by 1000
Estimation method:
Population data are taken from the most recent United Nations Population Division’s World Population Prospects. In countries with low fertility rates, the total fertility rate usually refers to women aged 15 to 44 years.
Disaggregation:
Place of residence, socioeconomic status
Primary data sources:
Civil registration
Population census
Population census
Alternate data sources:
Household surveys, annual statistical yearbooks, facility-based records
Measurment frequency:
Annual if based on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS); once every 3−5 years if based on surveys and census
