Age-specific fertility rate of females

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on October 23, 2009.

Definition

Age-specific fertility rate refers to the number of births to females in a particular age category in a particular year compared to the number of females in that age category.

Female refers to a person whose sex is female.

Usage

'Age-specific fertility rate' is usually expressed as births per woman or births per 1,000 women in the age category. It is usually calculated for the age range 15 to 49 as only a very small proportion of births occur to women outside of that age range.

Age-specific fertility rates are usually calculated for single years of age or for 5-year age categories.

Derivation

'Age-specific fertility rate' is derived. It is calculated as the number of births during the reference year to females of a specified age at the time of the birth, divided by the number of females of that age in that reference year. The number of births to females of a specified age is typically obtained from Vital Statistics information on births, which records the age of the mother at the time of the birth. The number of females of that age is typically obtained from the Population Estimates Program.

Age-specific fertility rates may also be estimated using the own-child method applied to census data. In this approach, information on recent births is inferred from the presence of young children in a household. These children are linked to the female in the household who is most likely to be their mother. Age-specific fertility rates are then estimated using information on the dates of birth of these women and their young children.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

The United Nations uses a similar definition of age-specific fertility.

Measurements

• Rate per 1,000 females January 01, 2019 to current
• 'Age-specific fertility rate' is expressed as births per woman or births per 1,000 women in the age category. October 23, 2009 to current

Relation to previous version

• Age-specific fertility rate of females October 23, 2009 to current

  This is the current standard.