World Development Report 1984

Glossary
Demographic terms information about, and services for, use of contraception.
Fecundity. The physiological capacity of a woman,
Amenorrhea. Absence or suppression of menstrua- man, or couple to produce a live birth.
tion. Fertility. The reproductive performance, measured
Child death rate. The number of deaths of children by number of births, of an individual, a couple, a
aged one to four in a given year per 1,000 children group, or a population.
in this age group. Infant mortality rate. The number of deaths of
Cohort. A group of people sharing a common tem- infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000
poral demographic experience who are observed live births in that year.
through time. For example, the birth cohort of Life expectancy at birth. The average number of
1900 would be the people born in that year. There years a newborn would live if current age-specific
are also marriage cohorts, school class cohorts, mortality were maintained. Life expectancy at later
and so on. ages is the average number of years a person
Completed fertility rate. The number of children born already at a given later age will live. Life expectalive
per woman in a cohort of women by the end ancy at age five and above can exceed life expectof
their childbearing years. ancy at birth substantially if the infant mortality
Contraception. The conscious effort of couples to rate is high.
avoid conception through rhythm, withdrawal, Married women of reproductive age. Women who are
abstinence, male or female sterilization, or use of currently married, or in a stable sexual union, gencontraceptives:
intrauterine device (IUD), oral con- erally between the ages of fifteen and forty-nine.
traceptives, injectable contraceptives, condom, Some analysts count only women between the
spermicides, and diaphragm. ages of fifteen and forty-four.
Contraceptive prevalance rate. The percentage of mar- Maternal mortality rate. The number of deaths of
ried women of reproductive age who are using (or women due to complications of pregnancy and
whose husbands are using) any form of contracep- childbirth per 100,000 live births in a given year.
tion. Mortality. Deaths as a component of population
Crude birth rate. The number of births per 1,000 change.
population in a given year. Net reproduction rate. The average number of
Crude death rate. The number of deaths per 1,000 daughters that would be born to a woman (or
population in a given year. group of women) if during her lifetime she were to
Dependency ratio. The ratio of the economically conform to the age-specific fertility and mortality
dependent part of the population to the productive rates of a given year. This rate takes into account
part; arbitrarily defined as the ratio of the young that some women will die before completing their
(those under fifteen years of age) plus the elderly childbearing years. A net reproduction rate of 1.00
(those sixty-five years and over) to the population means that each generation of mothers is having
in the "working ages" (those fifteen to sixty-four exactly enough daughters to replace itself in the
years of age). population.
Family planning. Conscious effort of couples to reg- Parity. The number of children previously born
ulate the number and timing of births. alive to a woman.
Family planning programs. Programs that provide Popuilation growth rate. The rate at which a popula-
x