what is total fertility rate

The total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime and live from birth until the end of her reproductive life. It is obtained by summing the single-year age-specific rates at a given time. The TFR is a more direct measure of the level of fertility than the crude birth rate, since it refers to births per woman. The global average fertility rate is around 2.3 children per woman today, but it varies widely across the world, from 0.78 in South Korea to 6.73 in Niger. The TFR is influenced by factors such as economic development, wealth, education, urbanization, and access to contraceptives