The vital statistics about other factors which can influence public health are life expectancy, sex ratio, literacy rates, etc. Let us learn about them in some detail.
Growth Rate
Growth rate is a measure of population change comprising addition of new borns and net migrants to the population and subtraction of deaths.
Live births + net migrants - Deaths during the year
Growth Rate = -------------------------------------------------------------------------x 1000
Mid-year population
Growth rate includes the natural rate of increase in population and also net migration of population. The growth rate is not uniform in the world. The rate is higher in developing countries (over 2.5 percent) when compared to a rate of 0.5 to 1.0 to developed countries.
Natural Increase Rate
Natural Increase Rate indicates net change in the population on account of births and deaths which are the two crucial vital events determining population change.
Natural Increase Rate = Crude Birth Rate - Crude Death Rate
Sex Ratio
Sex ratio is defined as the number of females per 1000 males. Sex ratio in favour of females is favoured by demographers and is usually associated with higher literacy rates and better socio-economic conditions:
According to 1991 census, the sex ratio in India was 929. Sex ratio was declining from 972 in 1901 in 1991.
Life Expectancy
The average number of years an individual is expected to live with the existing schedule of mortality.
Life Expectancy at birth
Average number of years a new born baby can be expected to live with the existing scheduis of mortality.
Life Expectancy at a given age
Life expectancy is a sensitive measure of health status, considered as an indicator of socio-economic development. Increase in the expectancy of life is due to improvement of health status of the population. Life expectancy at birth is partly dependent on infant mortality. Hence, life expectancy is lower in developing than in developed countries because of the higher infant mortality rates in the former.
Calculation of expectancy of life is based on statistical abspaction from the existing age specific death rates. Life expectancy at birth in India is gradually rising and is presently 58 years for m, les and 59 for females.
Low Birth Weight
New borns with a low birth weight are considered to be at high risk and mortality rates are very high in this group. Those surviving will be highly prone to various infections and also growth retardation.
The number of children born with weight less than 2500 g. in our country is estimated to be in the range of 25-30 percent.
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