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General Fertility Rate
The General Fertility Rate is the birth rate of women of childbearing age (age 15-44).
While births to women younger than 15 or older than 44 years are included in the general
fertility rate, the populations for those ages are not. These births represent only a minute
portion of the total births. In 1999, for example, births to these women represented only
about one-half of one percent of all births in the state. These births are particularly
important from a medical perspective, but are not a significant proportion of the total.
Dividing the total number of births in a given year by the number of women aged 15
through 44 and multiplying by 1,000 equals the general fertility rate. For example, in
1999, there were a total of 36,672 live births to the residents of Arkansas. It is estimated
that there were 542,905 women aged 15 through 44 in the state. Therefore, the General
Fertility eRate = (36,672 / 542,905) X 1,000 = 67.5 births per 1,000 women 15-44. In
other words, about one out of every 15 women of child-bearing years in Arkansas gave
birth in 1999. By way of comparison, the general fertility rate for the United States in 1999
was 65.9 births per 1,000 women 15-44.
It should be noted that the calculation of the general fertility rate is limited solely to live
births. It is not a pregnancy rate and does not include induced abortions, fetal deaths
(stillbirths), or spontaneous abortions (miscarriages).
The general fertility rate is the best overall indicator of reproductive behavior
and success. Another related statistic, the crude birth rate, computed as the ratio of births
to the total population, is more affected by population differences in age and sex ratio.
Therefore the crude birth rate is a better measure of tax burden and other economic
statistics than the general fertility rate. The two statistics are not comparable.
For the period 1995 through 1999, the average general fertility rate for Arkansas was 67.0.
There is substantial variation in fertility rates throughout the state, however. The highest
fertility rates are clustered in eastern Arkansas in the Northeast and Southeast Public Health
Regions, as well as in several counties along the western edge of the state. For the
1995-1999 period, general fertility rates averaged from a low of 49.4 in Calhoun County to
a high of 91.4 in Phillips County. The high and low averages in the Public Health Regions
for the same time period, were 70.6 in the Southeast PHR and 62.8 in the Central PHR .
The general fertility rate varies a great deal by race. General fertility for White women was
64.1 for the five-year period, while Black women had a much higher rate of 76.8.
The Arkansas general fertility rate (67.5) remained the same in 1999 as in 1998. Whereas
the U.S. rate has been gradually declining since 1990, Arkansas has remained fairly
constant since 1996.
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