The Relation of the Net Reproduction Rate to Other Fertility Measures

Abstract

Abstract Recent population literature has been critical of the net reproduction rate on the grounds that it is based only on the female population, that it assumes the invariable continuation of the reproductive situation of a single year, and that it ignores the past childbearing experience of the generation. Alternative measures are: Male reproduction rates; Marital reproduction rates, which are of two types—(a) those showing the birth rates of a single year standardized for duration of marriage, and (b) those showing the number of children ever born to women who have been married for varying periods of time. Generation rates, which are based on the total number of children ever born to a generation of women who have completed the childbearing period. Standardized quota reproduction rates are proposed in order to preserve the generation principle, but center the experience measured closer to the current year. Rates adjusted for the order of birth of children, as proposed by Whelpton, may be calculated either from the base of a single calendar year or from the complete experience of a generation. All of these rates may be classified into two types: (1) Those which depend on the birth rates of a single year, and (2) those which cumulate the experience of a group over a period of years. The former are more sensitive to short-time changes in the birth rate, while the latter provide a longer and more stable base for measuring trends.