Number of births

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Birth rate (or birth rate, gross birth rate; ) is a measure in demographics that indicates the number of live births per year in a state based on 1000 inhabitants.

General
The birth rate shows the contribution of live births to the population development of a country. However, population development depends not only on the birth rate, but also on its mortality rate, life expectancy and emigration and immigration. The fertility rate (fertility rate) as another indicator indicates how many children a woman would have on average during her life if the age-specific fertility rates determined at a uniform time were to apply for the entire period of her fertile life phase. It is based on the birth rate and, in contrast to this, is a purely hypothetical indicator. A synonym for the birth number is Natality, a term also used in medicine and philosophy.

Calculation
In the population statistics, the number of live births per year () and per 1000 inhabitants () is given with the birth rate:

The leading countries in the world statistics Niger and Mali have 44 live births per year and per 1000 inhabitants, so that the birth rate is 44 ‰ or 4.4 % in terms of population.

Birth and death rates are subject to short- and long-term changes. The demographic transition model (especially since the 1970s) assumes that there is a uniform tendency from high to low birth and death rates. This development increases the age quotient, i.e. the proportion of older people in the population would continue to increase. High birth and death rates would lead to an increase in the youth quotient. Many states experienced a particularly significant change in the birth rate after the introduction of the birth control pill (the so-called pill kink).

The average number of children per woman in the course of life shall be delimited from the birth rate; In Germany, this has been increasing since 2012 after a long decline and was 1.5 in 2015.

Characteristics

General birth rate, general fertility rate
General birth rate or general fertility rate (abbreviated GFR for English ) is the number of live births per year and 1000 women aged 15 to 44 years (i.e. roughly in childbearing age). It can be quite high, although the raw birth rate – for example, because of a high proportion of old, men and/or children – has a low value.

For practical reasons, the age of birth here and hereafter is taken as the difference between the birth year of the child and the birth year of the mother, which on average (± 1 year) is approximately the age of the mother at the time of birth and not the number of completed years of life.

Age specification