Today in Class... Total Fertility Rate. 9/29/16

Today in class we discussed finding the total fertility rate or TFR. The TFR is the average number of children born per woman. The populations stability is based off of this. In order for the population to stay the same, the TFR needs to be 2.1. There needs to be that point one to even out the deaths of babies who are born, but die very shortly afterwards. If the TFR is above 2.1, then the population will increase, but if it is below 2.1, then the population will decrease. The world TFR is 2.42, therefore the earths population is continuing to increase over time. In Nigeria their TFR is 6.89! They are a developing country and developing countries tend to have higher TFRs. On the other hand there are places like Japan which is a developed nation and is aging who's TFR is well below the average at 1.4. It all really depends on the country you are looking at and if they are really developed or not.