V.—The Decline of the Birth-Rate : Regularities Revealed by an Analysis of the Rates Observed in Certain European Countries

Abstract

During recent decades the vital statistics of the more developed countries of the world have exhibited two outstanding features: the first is a decline in the death‐rate, and the second a similar decline in the birth‐rate, the latter setting in some time after the former. It is generally realised that, for an adequate study of the changes involved, it is necessary, not merely to consider the crude death‐ and birth‐rates—that is, the number of deaths and births respectively per 1000 inhabitants—but also to take into account the age distribution of the population. In the case of death‐rates, for instance, it is important to know the specific death‐rates for each age-group—that is to say, for example, the annual number of deaths of persons aged twenty, per 1000 individuals of that particular age. In the same way the crude birth‐rate can only be properly interpreted when analysed in reference to the age of the mothers.