Definition of "fertility rate" [fertility rate]

• The average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she followed the current average pattern of fertility among a given group of women and survived through her reproductive years; used as an indicator of strength of population growth. (noun)

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• "With the fertility rate among Catholic right-to-life enthusiasts indistinguishable from that of pro-abortionists, it is difficult to interpret the right-to-life movement in the United States as being essentially pro-natal."
• "And the high Pakistani fertility rate put the country on track to become the fifth-largest country in the world by 2015 with a population of almost 200 million."
• "The baby boom collapsed, and the fertility rate began its historic plunge, reaching zero-population-growth levels in 1972 and falling still further to an average of 1.8 children per woman by 1980."