The crude birth rate is the total number of live births per one thousand midyear population of a certain place in a given year. It is the most used and simplest way of measuring the fertility rate of people. It is calculated by using the following formula:
Crude Birth Rate, CBR = (B/P) x 1000
Where,
B = Total number of live birth in a given year.
P = Mid-year population of that year.
Advantages of crude birth rate are:
- It is the simplest measure of fertility.
- It is easy to calculate.
- It needs simple data of births and mid-year population only.
- It is used in the calculation of the rate of natural increase (RNI) and population growth rate.
On the other hand, the disadvantages of crude birth rate are:
- The crude birth rate is affected by fluctuation in age and sex distribution and by other characteristics of the population.
- Crude birth rate doesn't provide any insight into individual-level childbearing behaviour.