Fertility and mortality: five population indicators compared across youthful, transitional and aged populations
The longest-lived population has the higher death rate
Crude death rate counts deaths per thousand people a year, and a population full of old people has many people near the end of life, however long those lives have been. Infant mortality and life expectancy tell the health story the crude rate hides, and births minus deaths tells the growth story the birth rate hides. Pick a population type, then change the fertility rate and watch the gap between births and deaths.
Five population indicatorsYouthful · TFR 5.0
Pick a population type, then change the fertility rate. Watch the gap between the births bar and the deaths bar. Values are typical of each type, not of any one country.
Population type
Youthful: most people under 30, fertility high for generations
Natural increase +2.5% a year
Total fertility rate5.0 births/woman
1.0▴ 2.1 replacement7.0
Natural increase a year
+2.5%
Doubling time
27 yrs
Know This
Natural increase is the gap between crude birth rate and crude death rate, and an aged population can have the higher death rate even though its people live far longer.