CHAPTER - 1

VITAL STATISTICS
MEASUREMENT OF POPULTION:
The population Pt at time t is obtained as follows.

 
   
   

Where
 = Estimate of population after time t.

 = Population in the previous census year.
 =Total number of live births during the given period.
=Total number of live deaths during the given period.
 = Total number of immigrants.
 =Total number of emigrants.

FERTILITY: Fertility refers to “the births occurring to women of child bearing age”.

The child bearing age: It refers to “the age of females between 15 -49 years” and it is also
called “germination period”.

FECUNDITY: Fecundity refers to the “the capacity of a woman to bear children”. It is the
maximum fertility level that can be attained.

MEASUREMENT OF FERTILITY: (Fertility Rates)

The different measures of fertility are
1. Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
2. General Fertility Rate (GFR)
3. Age-Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR)
4. Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

Crude Birth Rate (CBR):

It is the simplest method of measuring fertility. It is defined as “the average number of
live births occurring to 1000 individuals in a year”.

      

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2 II PUC Statistics
Merits:
1. It is simple to understand and easy to calculate.
2. It does not need detailed information for computation.
3. It indicates the rate of growth of population due to live births.

Demerits:
1. It ignores the age and sex composition of the population.
2. It takes both men and women population into consideration.
3. It cannot be used to compare birth rates of two or more populations.

NOTE:

In the measurement of vital statistics only live births are considered. Still births are
totally ignored.

General Fertility Rate(GFR):

GFR is defined as “the average number of live births occurring to 1000 women of child
bearing age in a year”.
The child bearing age for women is between 15 - 49 years.

      

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Merits:
1. It is simple to understand and easy to calculate.
2. It considers only female population of the child bearing age.
3. It considers the sex composition of the population and also the age composition to a
certain extent.

Demerits:
1. It does not consider age composition in the child bearing age.
2. It cannot be used to compare fertility rates of two or more populations.
3. It does not indicate rate of growth of the population due to births because it is based
on a part of the population only.

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Vital Statistics 3
Age- Specific Fertility Rate(ASFR):
ASFR is defined as “the average number of live births occurring to 1000 women
population of a specific age group in a year”.

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Note:

ASFRs which are computed for age-groups of width 5 years each are called Quinquennial
Age Specific Fertility Rates (ASFR).

Thus, ASFRs for the age groups 15-19, 20-24, ……,44-49 are Quinquennial ASFRs.

Merits:
1. It is simple to understand and easy to calculate.
2. It is used in the computation of total fertility rate.
3. It can be used for comparison of fertility among the age groups in the same population.
4. It considers both age and sex composition of the population.

Demerits:
1. It cannot be used for comparison of fertility of different populations.
2. It does not indicate the growth of population due to births.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR):

TFR is used for the comparison of fertility of different populations.
TFR of a population in a year is defined as “the sum of annual age specific fertility rates”.

TFR = ∑Annual ASFRs

When quinquennial age groups are given, then

TFR = 5∑Quinquennial ASFRs.

TFR indicates the number of children born / 1000 women of child bearing age provided none
of these women die before the child bearing age is completed.

/01
gives average number of children born in life-time to one woman.
2

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4 II PUC Statistics
Merits:
1. It is used for comparing the fertility rates of different populations.
2. It gives due weightage to age composition.
3. It considers only female population of child bearing age.

Demerits:
1. It does not indicate the rate of growth of population due to births.
2. It is based on an assumption that all women survive throughout the child bearing age.

REPRODUCTION RATES: (Growth rates)

The fertility rates are unsuitable for giving an idea of the rate of growth of population
because they ignore the gender of the newly born children and their mortality.
If the majority of these births are boys the population is bound to decrease while the
population will increase if the majority of the births are girls. If mortality is ignored we may not
get the correct growth of population because it ignores the death of female children before
reaching child bearing age.

For measuring the rate of growth of population we calculate the reproduction rates.
Reproduction Rates are of two types.
1. Gross Reproduction Rate (GRR).
2. Net Reproduction Rate (NRR).

Gross Reproduction Rate(GRR):

It is a refined measure of fertility which accounts for future mothers.
GRR is defined as “the sum of annual WSFRs of the entire reproductive span without
mortality”.
It shows the rate at which mothers would be replaced by daughters and the old
generation by new, if no mother dies or migrated before reaching the upper limit of the child
bearing age.
It is computed by,

GRR =5 X ∑WSFR

Where, WSFR = Women specific fertility rate

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Vital Statistics 5
F 
WSF  $%&&&
F ##

Note:
511

If GRR per woman 4 6= 1, it indicates that the current generation of females in child
2
bearing age will maintain itself on the basis of current fertility but without mortality.
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If 4 6<1, the population would decline.
2
511

If 4 6>1, the population would increase.
2

Merits:
1. It is useful for comparing fertility in different areas or in the same area at different time
periods.
2. It has an advantage over the total fertility rate because in its computation we take into
account only the female babies, who are the future mothers.

Demerit:
It ignores the current mortality.

Net Reproduction Rate(NRR):

The GRR takes into account current fertility but not current mortality. To take into account the
factor of mortality in measuring population growth, we use Net Reproduction Rate.
NRR is defined as “the average number of daughters that would be born to a female, if
she passed through her life time conforming to the age specific fertility and mortality rates of a
given year”.

NRR is computed by the following formula.

NRR =5 X ∑WSFRXS
Where, WSFR = Women specific fertility rate
F 
WSF  $%&&&
F
#
S = Survival rates.

Note:

NRR is the number of female children surviving till their reproductive ages.
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6 II PUC Statistics

NRR cannot exceed GRR for the reason that in its calculation we consider mortality.

Both NRR and GRR will be equal when all the newly born daughters reach child bearing
age and passed through it.
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i. If NRR per woman, ie4
2
6 1, the population will be constant.
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ii. If 4 6<1, the population will decrease.
2
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iii. If 4 6>1, the population will increase
2

Merits:
1. It takes into account current fertility and current mortality.
2. It will show a tendency of increase or decrease in the population.

Demerits:
1. It assumes constant rates of fertility and mortality over a generation. In actual life, both
these rates keep on changing.
2. The population of a country may become depleted more by migration than by declining
birth rate.
3. It cannot be used for forecasting future population changes.

NOTE:

In a situation, if GRR per woman is greater than 1 and NRR per woman is less than
1 then the conclusion is the population is decreasing.

MORTALITY RATES
Mortality refers to deaths occurring in the population. The deaths may be due to ah
number of causes such as sickness, accident, old age etc.
Mortality rate is an indication of general health of the population. It also points at the
availability of medical facilities.

Measurement of mortality:
The different measures of mortality are
1. Crude Death Rate (CDR)
2. Age Specific Death Rate (ASDR)
3. Standardized Death Rate (STDR)
4. Neo-natal Mortality Rate (NMR)
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Vital Statistics 7
5. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
6. Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR)

Crude Death Rate (CDR):

CDR is defined as “the average number of deaths occurring in the year per 1000
individuals”.

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Merits:
1. It is simple to understand and easy to calculate.
2. It requires only total number of deaths and average population for calculation.
3. It indicates the rate of decrease of population due to deaths.

Demerits:
1. It is an overall value which does not give importance to age and gender distribution of
the population.
2. It cannot be effectively used for comparison of mortality of different populations.

Age-Specific Death Rate (ASDR):

ASDR is defined as “average number of deaths occurring in a given age group per 1000
individuals in that age group in the year”.

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Merits:
1. It considers age composition of population.
2. It is used in the calculation of STDR, NRR & Life Tables.

Demerits:
1. ASDR cannot be used for overall comparison of mortality conditions of different
populations.
2. It ignores social and occupational factors.
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Standardized Death Rate (STDR):
STDR is the weighted average of ASDRs of population by taking standard population as
weights.
9 :;
8T !
 9:
, where A = ASDRs of the population
P=Standard population
The STDR for two populations A and B are given by,
9 :; 9 :<
8T !
 9:
, ST 
 9:
Where, A = ASDRs of the population A
B = ASDRs of the population B
P=Standard population
NOTE:

A population which has STDR minimum is the healthy population.

CDR of a standard population itself is STDR.

CDR is the weighted average of ASDRs of population by taking population as weights.

Merits:
1. It is a good measure of mortality giving importance to age groups.
2. It can be used for comparison of mortality of two or more populations.

Demerits:
1. It requires standard population and it is difficult to select the standard population.
2. It is dependent on the age structure of the standard population.

Difference between CDR and STDR:

CDR STDR
1. It cannot be used for comparison of 1. It can be used for comparison of death
death rates of two or more rates of two or more populations.
populations. 2. It requires more information.
2. It requires less information. 3. It requires standard population for
3. It does not require standard calculation.
population for calculation. 4. The standard population is used as
4. The population is used as weights. weights.
5. It does not consider age composition 5. It considers age composition of the
of the population. population.

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Vital Statistics 9
Neo-natal Mortality Rate (NMR):
NMR is defined as “average number of neo-natal deaths per 1000 live births in a year”.
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Here, neo-natal babies mean babies aged “less than 28 days”.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR):

IMR is defined as “average number of infant deaths per 1000 live births in a year”.
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Here, infant means children aged “less than one year”.
IMR indicates level of health, nutrition and socio-economic development of a region.

Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR):

MMR is defined as “average number of deaths among mothers due to child birth per
1000 births in a year”.
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MMR indicates the general healthiness of female population of child bearing age.
NOTE:Maternal mortality is also called puerperal deaths.

LIFE TABLES
“Life table is a tabular presentation of numerical data describing the mortality
experience of a cohort”.
Life table describes the mortality and survival patterns of a population. It provides the
most complete description of mortality in a population. It is a key summary tool for assessing
and comparing mortality conditions existing in different populations.
Life tables are generally constructed for various sections of the people which generally
have different patterns of mortality. Thus, there are life tables constructed for different races,
occupational groups and gender.

Definitions:
Cohort: It is a group of individuals who are born at the same time and who experience the
same mortality conditions.
Radix: It is the size of the cohort (Generally 1,00,000).
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Longevity: It is the expected number of years that a new born baby would live.
Uses of Life table:
1. Life tables are used by life insurance companies to determine the rates of premium for
policies of persons of different ages.
2. It is used for the measurement of growth of population in the calculation of NRR.
3. It is used for estimating future population.
4. It is used by the government and private organizations in planning health care,
retirement age, educational programs etc.
5. It is used for analyzing the effect of mortality on gender and age composition of a
population.

Components of a Life table:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
x > d> ?> #> @> T> AB

1. x : x = 0,1,2,3,……..it represents the age of a person.

2. > : Number of persons living at age x. Thus,  = 1,00,000 is the radix.
3. d> : The number of persons dying between age x and x+1 years.
d>  >  >C2 .
4. ?> : The probability that the person aged x years will die before reaching the age x+1
years. It is also called mortality ratio.
d>
?> 
>
5. #> : The probability that the person aged x years survives till the age x+1 years. It is also
called survival ratio.
DE FEGH
#>  %  ?> Or #> = 1- Or #> =
FE FE
6. @> : Number of years lived, in aggregate, by the cohort between age x andx+1.
FE CFEGH
DE
@>  Or@> = > -
I I
7. T> : Total number of years lived by the cohort after attaining the age x.
T>  @>  @>C2  @>CI  J
8. AB : Expectation of life (life expectancy): Average number of years a person of age x can
be expected to live under the prevailing mortality conditions.
T>
AB 
>
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