3.6: Fertility
- Page ID
- 12236
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Fertility is the actual level of reproduction of a population per individual, based on the number of live births that occur. Total fertility is the average number of children born to each woman, over the woman’s lifespan, in a population. Birth rate and fertility are closely linked terms. As a country moves through the demographic transition model, fertility rates decrease. Overall, fertility rates have decreased for most countries and regions over the past 50 years (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). However, there is still a significant amount of variation among different regions of the world.