Fertility

Fertility, one of the statistical indicators of natural population movement alongside birth rate, mortality, and population growth. Biologically, the reproduction indicator is calculated by the number of births (stillbirths excluded) per 1,000 women aged 15-49 years. With a stable age-sex structure of the population, there is a constant relationship between the general fertility coefficient and the birth rate (approximately 4:1). For this reason, in pre-revolutionary times, the study of the general fertility coefficient was given a modest role, and its independent significance was viewed critically (Prinzing). However, demographic changes caused by the imperialist war brought the fertility coefficient to the forefront as one of the reliable methods for studying issues of natural population movement (Knips, Burgdörfer, Deblin). In tsarist Russia, the study of fertility was little conducted; only in recent years have Soviet demographers begun to study it intensively. Unlike the birth rate coefficient (number of births per 1,000 population), the fertility coefficient is a more precise measure of population reproduction, eliminating differences caused by the variability of the age structure of the population and differences caused by sharp shifts in the sex structure (increased or decreased percentage of women in the population aged 15-49 years). A disadvantage of the fertility coefficient is the need for precise calculation of the age structure of the population, possible only in census years; therefore, the birth rate indicator has received wider dissemination.

In capitalist countries, where 'extramarital' births are widespread, in addition to the general fertility indicator, 'marital' and 'extramarital' fertility are calculated separately. The calculation of the latter two coefficients in the USSR has been eliminated due to the abolition of all legal restrictions on women in marriage and society and, consequently, the absence of registration of marital status and in fact any mandatory registration. The magnitude of general fertility depends on the number of women married and on the age structure of married women—the more married couples in the population and the more represented younger age groups are among married women, the higher the fertility rate. Therefore, it is more correct to calculate fertility separately for each age, then summing them into separate age groups. Differences in age structure are neutralized by the use of age standardization. The marital fertility coefficient, i.e., the number of births per 1,000 married women, by eliminating differences in the percentage composition of married women in the population, is a significantly better measure of natural population movement. Fluctuations in the marital fertility coefficient are less significant than in the birth rate coefficient, as the latter reflects all changes dependent on the percentage composition of women (Table 1). Thus, the birth rate in Russia (1897) is 54% higher than in the Netherlands; meanwhile, the marital fertility rate is only 10% higher; the higher birth rate in Russia depends mainly on the larger number of married women in the population—there were 66% in Russia and 48% in the Netherlands. Table 1. Countries Birth rate Marital fertility European Russia . . 50,1 36,9 35,8 32,5 32,3 29,7 27,0 300,0 259,7 245,7 247,3 172,0 247,4 219,2 255,5 | * For European Russia for 1896-97, for other states for 1900-01.

The influence of age on general fertility, which depends on social, professional, racial factors, is neutralized by the age-specific marital fertility coefficient, which is the most perfect method of calculating fertility, revealing differences caused by different factors. The calculation of age-specific marital fertility is possible in census years in those countries where births are registered by age of mother and marital status. Table 2. Number of children born per 1,000 married women of a given age Age of mother Leningrad 1928 Berlin 1900-01 USSR 1924-26 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 342,8 284,1 202.0 93,0 37,8 7,2 537,8 326,9 190,4 105,1 62,3 21,4 1,9 485,3 255,7 122,2 90,9 23,4 0,2 0,5 In all ages . . 154,4 107,8 43,6 In the USSR, in the absence of mandatory marriage registration, marital fertility is calculated in census years. Meanwhile, finding the marital fertility coefficients is undoubtedly necessary when studying population groups, especially factory workers, where family and living conditions vary greatly among workers of different professions and industries. In connection with this, in the USSR, many calculate marital fertility using the method proposed by Batks. The method consists in calculating the duration of the productive period of the entire surveyed group. Information is collected through questionnaire sampling survey based on the following main anamnestic data: date of survey, surname, year of birth, age, nationality, profession, year of beginning hired labor, separately for main profession; for each marriage: age at marriage, year of marriage, age of husband, reason and time of termination of marriage; time of onset of menstruation, sexual life, menopause and subsequent data: serial number of pregnancy, age at completion of pregnancy, outcome of pregnancy: births, birth of a dead fetus, miscarriage—artificial, spontaneous; sex of child; child: alive at age, died at age. These data are processed according to the main table (in the subject—age at survey, in the predicate—age of onset of the phenomenon being studied). Using this method, it is possible to trace the influence of labor and living conditions on the level of marital fertility, isolating by isochrones separate age groupings and separate historical epochs. Table 3. Age Married years Number of births Marital fertility coefficient 15-19 29,1 20-24 106 31,1 25-29 136 33,9 30-34 35,6 35-39 40-44 45-49 11 Since the end of the 19th century, a decrease in fertility has been noted in all countries, especially among the urban population, due to the chronic deterioration of material conditions of the proletariat, in capitalist countries—hence the tendency to limit childbearing (see Abortion). Decisive in fluctuations of fertility are social factors—since 'each historical epoch corresponds to certain production relations and the corresponding laws of population reproduction' (K. Marx). Table 4. General fertility Table Age Ukraine In 4 large cities Moscow village city USSR 15-19 37,3 33,7 29,7 - 26,4 20-24 273,6 182,6 131,2 146,1 25-29 291,6 167,5 112,3 135,5 30-34 210,8 121,4 78,7 92,4 35-39 184,3 84,4 47,4 51,1 40-44 92,1 34,3 16,0 21,4 45-49 25,9 8,3 3,1 3,7 Age of mother Austria Hungary 1895-1900 1901-06 1906-10 1900-01 1902-07 1908-13 1920-21 15-19 28,4 27,4 28,4 25,5 23,5 56,8 56,7 59,4 43,6 20-24 181,1 176,4 173,2 156,6 94,2 259,0 257,9 250,3 207,3 25-29 265,2 260,1 214,9 218,7 105,3 280,0 263,3 252,2 205,6 30-34 260,3 182,2 215,2 171,7 228,9 160,2 200,0 140,0 88,1 35-39 59,6 197,6 183,5 177,4 126,6 40-44 88,0 85,0 80,3 68,5 23,0 44,7 42,4 37,9 26,9 45-49 17,6 17,0 16,1 13,7 4,6 The most significant decreases in fertility are observed in the most fertile age group of 20-34 years, explained in part by the fact that the deterioration of material conditions of the proletariat causes later ages at marriage. Fertility in tsarist Russia and now in the USSR is higher than in other European countries. Table 5. Including the European part of the USSR Age of mother Ukraine 1896-97 1926-27 15-19 30,0 31,9 39,8 36,7 20-24 309,0 328,3 275,2 253,9 25-29 334,4 355,2 286,2 264,0 30-34 331,4 352,0 232,9 214,9 35-39 218,8 232,4 177,4 163,7 40-44 129,6 137,7 87,1 80,4 45-49 59,5 63,2 24,2 22,3 Among the rural population, fertility is significantly higher than in cities, and in large cities lower than in other urban settlements (Table 6; 1926-27). A number of studies show that in the urban population of capitalist countries, the highest fertility is observed in the working class with a sharp decline from year to year; in the USSR—the same tendencies in the working class, but in recent years in a number of factory settlements, not only stability but also a slight increase in fertility has been noted, caused by improvement in material and living conditions.