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fertility rate

fertility rate

3 2.8
The number of babies born per 1,000 people in one year
  • noun
  • /fərˈtɪləti reɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : tasa de fertilidad
  • The falling fertility rates in several countries prove one thing: that family planning programs work.
  • total fertility rate
  • low fertility rate
  • high fertility rates

The only way out of those two bleak futures is to get our fertility rate up.

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Examples

  • At a time when the US fertility rate is at a historic low, is Vance right to worry?

  • Between 1982 and 1991, Sweden's total fertility rate rose sharply.

    Academic text (1992)
  • We want to explain why Israel has a high fertility rate despite being rich.

  • However, you probably know that fertility rates worldwide are down.

  • For example, the total fertility rate is 1.6 in Russia, 1.4 in Poland, and 1.2 in South Korea.

    Academic text (2012)
  • And as standards of living improve, fertility rates tend to decrease.

    Academic text (1997)
  • By 2011, Italy's total fertility rate had dropped to 1.42.

    Academic text (2012)
  • The total fertility rate in 1975 was estimated at 7.2 (see Table 3).

    Academic text (2015)
  • Despite significant pronatalist measures, the fertility rate of indigenous Qatari women has gradually declined since the early 2000s.

    Academic text (2015)
  • The fertility rate in many countries has been affected by changing social norms and family planning policies.

Synonyms

birth rate
vsfertility rate
  • Specialized
17 2.5

Number of live births per 1,000 people in a year

uses the same meaning but appears as a single word sometimes
fertility
vsfertility rate
  • Specialized
13 3.7

The number of babies born alive for every 1,000 people each year

is the precise statistical phrase stating births per 1,000 people
birthrate
vsfertility rate
  • Specialized
7 3.2

The number of babies born each year for every one thousand people

uses the same meaning but is written as two words
natality
vsfertility rate
  • Specialized
9.2

The number of live babies born per 1,000 people each year

is the common numeric label rather than a technical name

Surface Forms

Morphology

fertility + rate

The phrase is fully compositional: 'fertility' denotes births/ability to produce offspring and 'rate' denotes a measured amount per unit, so together they straightforwardly mean the measured number of births per population. This construction is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'tasa de fecundidad', French 'taux de fécondité'), making it immediately derivable for learners who know both constituents.

Etymology

Fertility rate comes from a simple farming picture: fertility means how well land produces crops and rate means how many are produced. So people used that image to talk about how many babies are born in a group each year, and the phrase now means 'the number of live births in a population'.