ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, the measurement of fertility using age-specific fertility rates and total fertility rates (TFRs) was described. Age-specific fertility rates are widely used in demography (indeed, they are still the most widely used measures of fertility). They reflect the important fact that fertility varies with age. In Section 8.1, however, it was noted that one thing which distinguishes fertility from mortality is that fertility is much more the subject of individual choice than is mortality (notwithstanding suicides, and people who deliberately engage in dangerous pursuits).
