The derivation of fertility and reproduction rates from restricted data on reproductive histories

In this paper, the author considers a method of obtaining demographic constants for populations for which very scanty statistics only are available. By assuming that the age distribution of the female population may be approximated by a Taylor series, he obtains certain statistics which approximate to the conventional reproduction rates. The implications of his analysis are discussed and the methods are applied to the data given in the Demographic Year Book of the United Nations for a number of European countries, and to certain populations in East Africa for which the author has collected data.