The selected measure of morbidity, mortality, or natality
The Natality index, or as some scientists claim fertility rate, is the indicator showing the number of children is to be born theoretically by one woman until she reaches a specific age when she cannot give birth to any child (OECD Data, n.d.). Moreover, this index neglects the migration and mortality processes to make the indicator clearer from other factors except women’s possibilities to give birth to children.
The numerator and the denominator, and how is it typically reported
This index is calculated and presented as the total number of children to one woman, so that if one woman, on average in the world, can theoretically produce four children until she reaches the “fertility-free” age, then the ratio will represent 4 in the numerator and 1 in the denominator. In this case, the index will be equal to 4. However, the birth rate may also be traced as the number of children born per 1,000 people or women, so that if there are ten children in the nominator, and 1,000 people in the denominator, then the index will be 0,001.
Demographics by which the measure is available
The number of children may also be presented for ethnicity and race (Statista, 2021). In some cases, the age factor may be illustrated. The other demographics are not made due to ethical issues.
The selected measure for the past five years of available data for two geographical areas in the U.S.
The birth rate in the state of Texas has constantly been declining for the past five years, from 70.7 children per 1.000 women to 62.5 children in 2019 (Peristats, 2019). While observing the Country level, the situation is even worse: from 62.5 children per 1.000 women in 2015 to 58.3 children in 2019.
The timeliness of the measure
The index is demonstrated yearly by many organizations due to the social statistics efficiency in most countries. However, in the USA, it is usually a 2-year delay. One possible reason is that the rate is presented as “children per 1.000 women,” so they must turn their digits into the other metric to present clear statistics.
How the measure has changed in the past five years
The overall tendency is negative, so the nations with low fertility rates are assumed to be “aging” nations. These circumstances are interesting because the main reason for a decline in economic prosperity is that women aim to have higher education and remain working for the long-term perspective without pausing their worktime to give birth to a child. However, the low fertility rate may cause economic stagnation because of the increasing pressure on the working labor force so that they would have to work harder and earn less to pay all the taxes for the pension and continue living normally.
How and why the measure may or may not vary by geographical area
The measure significantly varies by the area of the population due to one main reason. It is assumed that the overall country’s intelligence negatively affects the birth rate (Stanhope et al., 2017). This may be caused by the women’s willingness to continue living child-free and choose a professional career path instead of creating a family by neglecting professional growth.
The primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention measures that are available to address the selected measure of morbidity, mortality, or natality
The primary prevention measure is that it is crucial to determine the country’s need of the rate’s dynamics. After that, when it is defined whether to increase or lower fertility, some specific measures may be applied to the society: direct family support in case of need in fertility growth, for instance (United Nations, 2017). The tertiary prevention of the fertility growth or decline is that there can be provided a working place security or its cancelation so that women could benefit from being mothers and return to the same working position after the specific period (BBC News, 2020). Evidence-based intervention’s main idea is that the first stage (primary stage) plays a pivotal role in the country’s actions in this question (Pregnancy Health: Community Folic Acid Campaign, 2020). This is because making the wrong choice may destroy any plan for fertility growth or decline.
References
BBC News. (2020). How do countries fight falling birth rates? BBC News. Web.
OECD Data. (n.d.). The OECD. Web.
Peristats. (2019). Peristats. Web.
Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2017). Foundations for Population Health in Community/Public Health Nursing – E-Book (5th ed., Vol. 1). Elsevier Gezondheidszorg.
Statista. (2021). Total fertility rate by ethnicity U.S. 2019. Web.
Pregnancy Health: Community Folic Acid Campaign | The Community Guide (2020). The Community Guide. Web.
United Nations. (2017) Government policies to raise or lower the fertility level | Population Division. Web.