Demography - American Sociological Association

MEASURES OF FERTILITY
Susan D. Stewart, University of Richmond
Purpose:
The goal of this assignment is for you to calculate, interpret, and evaluate basic demographic
measures of fertility. Because we are in transition period (i.e., 2000 birth data is not yet
available), certain assumptions must be made. Foremost, we will assume that the number of
births in the U.S. is relatively stable from year to year. Thus we will use 1997 births (the most
recent natality data available) as rough estimates of the number of births in 2000. This project is
the third component of a semester long demographic profile of a state in the United States.
Data Needs:
1997 Vital Statistics Data
Total births, by race/ethnicity (white/minority)
Births in five-year age groups by race (white/minority)
Note: Include births to women under age 15 in 15-19 category, and births to women age 45+ in
40-44 category.
2000 Census Data
Total population, by race/ethnicity (white/minority group)
Female population age 15 to 44 in five-year age groups, by race/ethnicity (white/minority group)
Population aged 0-4, by race/ethnicity (white/minority group)
Instructions:
Calculate the following rates (to 3 decimal places) and answer the accompanying questions.
Include all your data and show your calculations.
Calculate the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) for the white and minority populations of your state.
Interpret these rates. What do the data suggest about the fertility of these two groups?
Calculate the General Fertility Rate (GFR) for the white and minority populations of your state.
Interpret these rates. What is the main advantage of the GFR over the CBR? Does this advantage
make any difference with respect to your interpretation of the fertility of whites versus minority
women?
Calculate the Child-Woman Ratio (CWR) for the white and minority populations of your state.
Interpret these rates. In what situation might you choose to use the CWR rather than the GFR?
What limitations do you see with the CWR? Are any of these limitations apparent from your
data?
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