TFR

Today in class, on October 24, we talked about total fertility rate (TFR) in different countries and how it affects the population. The total fertility rate is the number of children a woman has in her lifetime. For the population to remain constant there needs to be a total fertility rate of 2.1. If the TFR is higher than 2.1 the population will increase but if the TFR is lower than 2.1 the population will decrease. The United States has a total fertility rate lower than 2.1 which should mean our population is decreasing but we have many immigrants coming into our country, so our population is increasing instead. Developing countries, like Nigeria, have very high total fertility rate's. For example, their total fertility rate is above 6 which is a very large number. This means their population should be increasing by a very high rate but unfortunately, many people pass away as children.