Childbearing rates
“The total fertility rate in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates (…) Together with mortality and migration, fertility is an element of population growth, reflecting both the causes and effects of economic and social developments”.
This indicator is measured in children per woman and the measurement depends on both the level of fertility and the age structure of the population
Coming up there is a graph to the figure of 2015 in which the total childbearing rate is presented.
According to the figure the total fertility is was approximately 2.5 children per woman globally, and this global average change in a wide way by regions. First of all, Africa remains the region with the childbearing rate at 4.7 children per woman. In Europe the lowest rate was seen, approximately is was 1.6 children per woman. Both Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean have total fertility of 2.2 children per woman, closely followed by Oceania with 2.4 children per woman.
In Middle and Western we can observed that Africa stand out having particularly high childbearing rates of over five children per woman. Eastern Asia, Eastern Europe and Southern Europe have very low fertility at under 1.6 children per woman.
Today, 46 per cent of the world’s population lives in countries with low levels of fertility, where women have fewer than 2.1 children on average. Low-fertility countries now include all of Europe and Northern America, as well as many countries in Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. Another 46 per cent of the world’s population lives in “intermediate fertility” countries that have already experienced substantial fertility declines and where women have on average between 2.1 and 5 children. The remaining 8 per cent of the world’s population lives in “high-fertility” countries that have experienced only limited fertility decline to date. In these countries the average woman has five or more children over her lifetime.
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Generally, in Colombia the childbearing rate has the same trend as the rest of the world. The following graph shows the rate presented in Colombia during the maternity year 2015. The horizontal axis represents the variation in years, while the y axis represents the average number of children per woman.
Thus, the downward trend has been observed over the years, since by 1960 there were an average of 6.8 children per woman. However currently in Colombia this average is totally different, feet are observed that the average is below the 2 children per woman
Taking into account the above information, it is observed how maternity rates have been reduced over the years, not only in Colombia, but also throughout the world, al that while from 1970 to 1975 the average number of children per Woman was 4.5. However, during 2010 to 2015, this figure has been noticeably reduced to 2.5 children per woman. This tendency is observed to occur in greater proportions in developed countries of the world. While in underdeveloped countries, it is observed that the average number of children per woman is much higher.
Referencies:
https://issuu.com/world.bank.publications/docs/9781464806834?e=0/35179276