Final answer:
The fertility rate is a measure of the average number of children born to women in a society. It is different from family size and is generally calculated as the number of live births per 1,000 people per year. Understanding fertility rates helps researchers analyze population growth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The fertility rate is a measure of the average number of children born to women in a society. It is different from family size which refers to the number of living children raised by parents in the same household. The fertility rate is generally lower than the fecundity number, which measures the potential number of children that could be born to women of childbearing age.
Sociologists measure fertility using the crude birthrate, which is the number of live births per 1,000 people per year. It is important to analyze fertility rates together with mortality rates to understand the overall growth in a population. The mortality rate is a measure of the number of people who die, derived from the number of deaths per 1,000 people per year.