The total fertility rate is a statistical indicator of population fertility, which reflects the number of children born to a woman during her entire life. This coefficient allows you to compare the fertility of different peoples or population groups of the same country.
The total childbearing rate was introduced into the scientific literature in 1935 by American demographer Frank Capelli and since then has been actively used to analyze the reproductive behavior of the population of various countries.
An important condition for applying the total childbearing ratio is the confidence that the average number of children in a family is stable and does not depend on factors such as economic well-being, women’s health, age and others. To determine the fertility summation coefficient, demographic data from individual years is needed when the population is considered homogeneous. Usually the coefficient is determined for all humanity at a certain stage of development of human society or for a separate group of the population.
Historically, the coefficient of total fertility has found use in the study of reproductive processes in pre-contact societies, where the concept of family was often vague or absent. In addition, this indicator is used in some economic models of economic growth created within the framework of family economics (for example, the Fujitaro family).
One common mistake in using the total fertility rate is its inadequate use as an indicator of fertility in modern societies. Some studies emphasize that although this ratio is an important indicator of the reproductive strength of a population, it does not reflect the reproductive structure of modern society. Instead, modern scientists prefer