The concept of "fertility" is widely used not only by doctors who deal with reproductive issues, because the term itself means the ability to reproduce. This concept is used by sociologists, politicians, and specialists in the field of demography. But they use such a concept as "fertility rate".
What it is?
Fertility is the ability of men and women who have reached puberty and have not yet left reproductive age to have offspring. Female fertility refers to the ability to conceive, bear and give birth to a living child. Male is due to the ability to fertilize female reproductive cells. To determine the level of fertility of individual male and female representatives in medicine, there is a system of tests and analyzes.
Fertility rate does not measure individual fertility... It is a macroeconomic indicator expressing the number of children born alive in relation to the number of women who are of reproductive age... Such an indicator is very important for economic and social forecasts, for describing certain political and demographic situations in the territory of a particular country, region, city, region, etc.
In reference books, the fertility indicator is often denoted by another concept that is synonymous - average total fertility rate.
If you are interested in the birth rate in a country, then reference books and statistical portals will issue this very coefficient in response to a request.
Before the politicians of a country will adopt any social laws, long-term government programs, they will definitely check the total fertility rate and demographers' forecasts for the coming years.
How is it calculated?
A special formula is used to calculate the coefficient: K = N n * 1000. In it, K is the fertility rate (or total fertility rate), N is the number of newborn children over a certain time period, n is the number of the fair sex who are at reproductive age (15–49 years). The answer is expressed in ppm.
The average fertility rate is 2.33. Under him, society remains stable. A high coefficient is considered above 2.4 - there is a population growth, overpopulation is not excluded. Low rate - 2.15 ppm and below. The population is decreasing at this rate.
Low fertility rate - an unfavorable forecast of the demographic state of the country (region), low economic forecasts, since labor resources, if the rate does not rise, will soon be scarce. The high ratio is associated with other problems: the likelihood of a shortage of jobs, the long-term prospect of depletion of natural resources in a designated specific part of the world.
Therefore, the fertility rate is a kind of a guide to action for local government. With a low value, measures of demographic support are introduced, with a high value, restrictions on the birth rate.
Situation in the world
The global trend in recent decades is a decrease in the total fertility rate. Worldwide data are such that 60 years ago it was 4.95 ppm. And already in 2010 it was 2.57 ppm. The birth rate has almost halved. Experts associate this with economic factors, with massive resettlement to large cities, as well as with the deterioration of the reproductive health of women. The development of the production of contraceptives also played a role.
Today, the world has the highest fertility rate in Africa. For example, in Niger it is 7.16 ppm. The lowest fertility rate was recorded by demographers in Singapore - 0.78 ppm.
The global average for 2015 is 2.36 ppm. In Russia, Rosstat has calculated that the fertility rate for 2015 is 1.78 (very low values). In cities it is even lower - 1.67 ppm, and in villages - 2.11 ppm.
In which regions of Russia are more children giving birth?
If we consider the statistics for the regions of Russia for the last years (for the period from 2014 to 2017), then fertility rates will be heterogeneous.
- The leader in fertility is the Republic of Tyva - the coefficient in 2017 was 3.19 ppm.
- TOP-10 is as follows: Chechnya (2.37), Altai (2.36), Nenets Autonomous Okrug (2.35), Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (2.08), Buryatia (2.06), Sakhalin (2, 03), Yamalo-Nenets District (1.95), Sakha Republic (1.93), Dagestan (1.91).
- The lowest birth rate was recorded in 2017 in the Leningrad region (1.22 ppm), as well as in the Republic of Mordovia (1.26 ppm).
In general, in all regions compared to 2014, there is a decline in the birth rate, and only the republics of the North Caucasus show a certain increase in the fertility rate.
