To know the living standards of a society, sociology uses a series of objective parameters or indicators that allow providing a general vision of a community. There are parameters of all kinds, such as GDP, kilometers of roads, levels of schooling or per capita income, among others. However, there are two indicators that are extremely important: the birth rate and the death rate. The data provided by both express what level of human development a country has, since they refer to the most essential of the human condition, life and death.
The birth rate
This variable, also known as the crude birth rate, is calculated by dividing the number of births in a given period by the number of inhabitants and all of this is multiplied by a thousand. A high birth rate occurs when it is above 30 per thousand inhabitants in a year, a moderate one between 15 and 30 and a low one below 15. It is an indicator that allows to objectively measure fertility, that is, the average number of children each woman of childbearing age has.
Countries with high birth rates tend to have weak economic development and countries with low birth rates are developed countries. This last circumstance is problematic, since if the number of births is reduced, the population tends to aging.
The mortality rate
This demographic indicator establishes the number of deaths in a population for every thousand inhabitants during a given period, normally one year. Regarding the mathematical formula used to establish this data, the number of deaths is equal to the deaths that have occurred during a year, divided by the total population and all of this is multiplied by 1000. This indicator is technically known as crude death rate.
The mortality rate in the world is very heterogeneous. Thus, in some African countries it exceeds 20 deaths per thousand inhabitants in a year and in countries such as Germany or Portugal this rate is reduced by half, that is, 10 deaths per thousand inhabitants in a year.
The mortality rate is also studied in relation to the child population under 5 years of age. In the poorest countries, the majority of infant deaths occur in relation to childbirth or in the first months of life (normally deaths occur from potentially preventable diseases such as malaria or pneumonia).
Photos: Fotolia - Gstudio / Tawatchai1990
