Is this really “fertility” rates or live birth rates?
I get confused by the terminology. An actual “fertility” rate should measure the quantity of females who are “fertile” or in child bearing years. I’ve heard “ferility rate” and “birth rate” used interchangeably. But I don’t know if that’s how professional demographers use those terms.
Makes one wonder if they’re not using “low fertility rate” to denigrate a certain portion of the population so that they’re less apt to even bother trying.
The birth rate is the number of live births per 1,000 of the population each year.
The fertility rate is the average number of of children born to women of childbearing age (15-44).