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Development Indicators
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Commonly used fertility measures are Total Fertility Rate
(TFR), Age Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR), Crude Birth Rate (CBR), Net
Reproduction Rate (NRR) and Gross Reproduction Rate (GRR). The rate of growth
of population is viewed from different perspectives through these measures. Total
fertility rate (TFR) is defined as the number of children that a woman bears in
her entire fertility span. According to 2011 census TFR of Nepal is 2.52 with
1.52 for urban areas and 3.08 in rural areas. This means that a woman bears
2.52 children in her entire life span. The women in urban areas bear 1.52
children whereas the women in rural areas bear 3.08 children. TFR of Nepal in
1971 was 6.32. This shows that Nepal has made a big progress in the reduction
of TFR from 6.32 in 1971 to 2.52 in 2011. A low TFR is related to high average
life expectancy and low Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). In 2011 Census TFR of 2.52
is coupled with 66.6 years of average life expectancy and 40.5 IMR, implying
that in 2011 a woman bears 2.5 children in her life time, a child born has life
of on average 66.6 years and there are 40.5 infant deaths per 1000 live births.
In the absence of use of contraceptives and birth control measures the TFR of a
country is around 6. This is reflected by TFR of Nepal in 1971 of 6.32. High
TFR is coupled with high IMR and low life expectancy at birth. This fact is
validated by the rural and urban differential in these measures. According to
2011 census of Nepal, TFR urban is 1.54 and TFR rural is 3.08, IMR urban is
24.06 and IMR rural is 42.9 and finally the life expectancy at birth of Urban
areas of Nepal is 70.5 and 66.6 for rural areas. High TFR indicates poor health
facilities and health conditions in governmental hospitals in rural areas in
contrast to urban areas. This is also coupled with a lower value of average life
expectancy in rural areas and a very high IMR. High IMR also implies large
deaths of infants due to poor nutrition of mother and poor health facilities. Many countries in Africa like Sierra Leone,
Angola have high incidence of diseases like Malaria and HIV AIDS have low
average life expectancy (50.1and 52.4 years respectively in 2016) and high TFR
(4.76 and 5.31 respectively in 2016). Many countries with low TFR (lower than 2),
have a declining population as two people mother and father are replaced by less
than 2people. Countries with low TFR
have high average life expectancy and low IMR. For example in 2016, TFR of
Italy is 1.43, this is very low and it is coupled by a very low value of IMR of
3.3 deaths per 1000 live births and average life expectancy of 82.7 years. This
is due to good health facilities provided by the government of such countries.
A low value of IMR also indicates good nutritive diet received by the mother.
So TFR can be related to the development status of a country, where a country
with low TFR has high socioeconomic and developmental status in contrast to
countries with high TFR. This discussion will be continued in the coming BLOGS.
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