The General Fertility Rate

In-Depth Look: The World of The General Fertility Rate

The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, if they were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through their lifetime...

Discover the meaning of fertility rate and how it defines womens reproductive health. Explore the key metrics, including total fertility rate (TFR) and general fertility rate (GFR).

The US fertility rate has declined by more than half over the last century. In 1924, there were 110.9 births per 1,000 women, compared with a fertility rate of 53.8 in 2024, a decrease of 51.5%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines the general fertility rate as...

Stunning The General Fertility Rate image
The General Fertility Rate

The total fertility rate in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates.

We use the DHS.rates package to calculate the general fertility rate (GFR), the age-specific fertility rates (ASFR) for five-year age groups and a total fertility rate (TFR).

Stunning The General Fertility Rate image
The General Fertility Rate

This particular example perfectly highlights why The General Fertility Rate is so captivating.

The general fertility rate, or the rate at which women ages 15 to 44 give birth, has declined to its lowest level since 2002.

The general fertility rate is the number of births per 1,000 women of childbearing age.The report said 3,606,400 babies were born in 2025 in the U.S. The number of births declined by an average 2% per year from 2015 through 2020 and has generally fluctuated since then, the report said.

A closer look at The General Fertility Rate
The General Fertility Rate

This means that the general fertility rate was less than 1.6 children per woman in 2024, well below replacement rate, which is about 2.1 per woman over the course of her life. The CDC also found that in 2024 birth rates for women ages 15 to 34 declined, while rates for women 35 to 39...

Visual Collection