In a hill village of Uttarakhand, most babies are delivered at home with the help of elders, and deaths of the very old are mourned within the household. The panchayat secretary keeps a register of such events, and the block office uses these entries along with the village population to work out the birth rate and the death rate. A visiting student wants to know how these measures are put together and how dependable they are.
Over what span are the live births counted when the block works out the birth rate?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Over a specified period, usually a year
Option (1) Over a woman's entire child-bearing years — Incorrect. A woman's child-bearing years are the span used in fertility measures, which look at the children born to women of that age. The birth rate counts all live births in an area for a fixed period.
Option (2) Over the first year of each child's life — Incorrect. The first year of a child's life is the span of the infant mortality rate. That rate counts the deaths of babies before their first birthday and has no part in counting live births.
Option (3) Over the ten years between two censuses — Incorrect. Ten years is the gap between two censuses, and growth between censuses is measured over it. The birth rate is worked out for a much shorter fixed period, usually one year.
Option (4) Over a specified period, usually a year — Correct. The birth rate is the number of live births in an area during a specified period, usually a year, divided by the population of that area in thousands. So the block counts the year's registered births for every 1000 people.
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