Birth-Mortality Rate

To know the levels life of a society, the sociology uses a series of parameters or indicators objectives that provide a general vision of a community. There are parameters of all kinds, such as GDP, kilometers of roads, levels of schooling or income per capita, among others. However, there are two indicators that are extremely important: rate of birth and that of mortality. The data provided by both express what level of human development has a country, since they refer to the most essential of the human condition, life and death.

The birth rate

This variable, also known as the crude birth rate, is calculated by dividing the number of births in a given period by the number of inhabitants and all of this is multiplied by a thousand. A high birth rate occurs when it is above 30 per thousand inhabitants in a year, a moderate one between 15 and 30 and a low one below 15. It is an indicator that makes it possible to objectively measure the fertility, that is, the average number of children that each woman of childbearing age has.

Countries with high birth rates tend to have weak economic development and countries with low birth rates are developed countries. This last circumstance is problematic, since if the number of births is small, the population tends to aging.

The mortality rate

This demographic indicator establishes the number of deaths in a population for every thousand inhabitants during a given period, normally one year. Regarding the mathematical formula used to establish this data, the number of deaths is equal to the deaths that have occurred during a year, divided by the total population and all of this is multiplied per 1000. This indicator is technically known as the crude mortality rate.

The mortality rate in the world is very heterogeneous. Thus, in some African countries it exceeds 20 deaths per thousand inhabitants in a year and in countries such as Germany or Portugal this rate is reduced by half, that is, 10 deaths per thousand inhabitants in a year.

The mortality rate is also studied in relation to the child population under 5 years of age. In the poorest countries, the majority of infant deaths occur in relation to childbirth or in the first months of life (deaths are usually caused by diseases that could be preventable such as malaria or pneumonia).

Photos: Fotolia - Gstudio / Tawatchai1990