What do fractions in demographic stats (such as birthrates, fertility rates, life expectancy, death rates, etc.) mean?

vzq , 5 months ago

What is tripping you up exactly? Most statistics are population level averages, so they are divided by a large number.

ArbitraryValue , 5 months ago

These things are averages, and the average of integers can be a non-integer. If two women have one child each and a third woman has two children, the average woman has 1.33 children. Is that what you meant?

originalucifer , 5 months ago

my fav example is that the average person has ~1 testicle!

rikudou , 5 months ago

My favourite is that the average amount of legs is less than 2. So most people have an above average amount of legs.

Valmond , 5 months ago

And eyes.

And lungs, and … :-/

cynar , 5 months ago

Depending on the country, I’d now question this. Does the number of leg amputees (dual counts double) outnumber the number of pregnant women at a given time? Legs form fairly early. Therefore, for about 6 months or so, most pregnant women have 4 legs.

rikudou , 5 months ago

I don’t think anyone ever counts it like that.

cynar , 5 months ago

Consider the whole conversation it predated on the pedantic difference between mean median and modal averages…

BlameThePeacock , 5 months ago

The average person contains more than one heart (due to late term pregnant women)

dave , 5 months ago

And more than one skeleton.