Birth rate

Crude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year.

According to the United Nations' World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision Population Database, 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 number of births per 1,000 population. CBR = (births in a period / population of person-years over that period).

According to the Dictionary of Geography by Audrey Clark, crude birth rate is also known as natural increase. It ranges from 12 to 50 per 1000 people. Furthermore, Clark describes that there is only a small tendency for birth-rates to fall even with more usage of birth control. During the period of 1960 to 1980, the world population has fallen 2% to 1.7 per cent per annum in the 1980s.

It can be represented by number of childbirths in that year, and p is the current population. This figure is combined with the crude death rate to produce the rate of natural population growth (natural in that it does not take into account net migration).

Another indicator of fertility that is frequently used is the total fertility rate, which is the average number of children born to each woman over the course of her life. In general, the total fertility rate is 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.

The birth rate is an item of concern and policy for a number of national governments. Some, including those of Italy and Malaysia, seek to increase the national birth rate using measures such as financial incentives or provision of support services to new mothers. Conversely, others aim to reduce the birth rate. For example, China's One child policy; measures such as improved information about and availability of birth control have achieved similar results in countries such as Iran.

There has also been discussion on whether bring women into the forefront of development initiatives will slow birth rate. In some places, government policies have been focused on reducing birth rates through improving women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. Typically, high birth rates has been associated with health impairments and low life expectancy, low living standards, low status of women, and low levels of education. There are claims that as countries going through economic development and social change, and population growth decline. Family programmes become widely accepted and birth rates decline

In 1974 at World Population Conference in Bucharest that women's issues gained any considerate attention. family programmes were seriously discussed and 137 countries drafted a World Population Plan of Action. Many countries acceptedaccepted modern birth control, such as the pill and the condom, but opposed abortion. In 1994, Another Action plan was drafted in Cairo under United Nations. They discussed the concern about population and the need to incorporate women into the discourse. They agreed that a need to improve women's status, initiatives in defence of reproductive health and freedom, the environment, and sustainable socio-economic development were needed.

Generally, birth rate is calculated using live birth counts from a universal system of registration of births, deaths, and marriages, and population counts from a census or using estimation through specialized demographic techniques. Birth rate is also commonly used to calculate population growth. It is combined with death rates and migration rates to calculate population growth.

As for 2009, the average birth rate for the whole world is 19.95 per year per 1000 total population. Birth rate from 2003 to 2009 shows that there has been a -.48% decline from 2003's world birth rate of 20.43 per 1000 total population. As compared to the 1950s (birth rate was at 37 births per 1000 in the 1950s), birth rate has declined 17.05 births per 1000 people. Countries with birth rates ranging from 10-20 births per 1000 is considered low and countries ranging from 40-50 births per 1000 is considered high.

Methods of measuring birth rate

 * General fertility rate (GFR): This measures the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 or 15 to 49.


 * Standardised birth rate (SBR): This compares the age-sex structure to a hypothetical standard population.


 * Total fertility rate (TFR): The mean number of children a woman is expected to bear during her child-bearing years. It is also independent of the age-sex structure of the population.


 * Child-to-woman ratio: This measures the number of children below five to the number of women of child-bearing years (age 15 to 44). In the past, when there is no universal registration of births, this ratio is a relatively good indicator of fertility since it can be measure using data from the Census. However, high infant mortality rate would cause huge difference between child to woman ratio and general fertility rate (GFR).

Factors affecting birth rate

 * Pro-natalist policies and Antinatalist policies from government
 * Existing age-sex structure
 * Availability of family planning services
 * Social and religious beliefs - especially in relation to contraception and abortion
 * Female literacy levels
 * Economic prosperity (although in theory when the economy is doing well families can afford to have more children, in practice the higher the economic prosperity the lower the birth rate).
 * Poverty levels – Children can be seen as an economic resource in developing countries as they can earn money.
 * Infant Mortality Rate – A family may have more children if a country's IMR is high as it is likely some of those children will die.
 * Urbanization
 * Typical age of marriage
 * Pension availability
 * Conflict

Birth rate and the Demographic Transition Model
The demographic Transition Model describes population mortality and fertility may decline as social and economic development occurs through time. The two major factors in the Demographic Transition Model is Crude Birth Rate (CBR) and Crude Death Rate (CDR). There are 4 stages to the Demographic Model and in the first and second stage, CBR remains high because people are still in agrarian cultures and need more labour to work on farms. In addition, the chances of children dying are high because medicine is not as advance during that phrase. However, in the third stage, CBR starts to decline due to more women's participation in society and the reduced need of families to have many children. In the fourth stage, CBR is sustained at a really low level with some countries below replacement levels.