Transforming gompertz's function for fertility analysis: The development of a standard for the relational gompertz function

Summary

The relational Gompertz function improves upon the Gompertz for fertility analysis by achieving a better fit in the tails of the distribution. This is obtained by a transformation of the age scale corresponding to an empirical standard. This standard is developed from Coale and Trussell's model and is appropriate for use with populations of high fertility. The model is tested on two sets of data and is shown to produce good estimates of completed fertility even for data truncated at quite early ages. Good results are also obtained for declining fertility.

This research was carried out for a doctoral thesis under the guidance of Professor W. Brass at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Financial support was provided by the Medical Research Council.

This research was carried out for a doctoral thesis under the guidance of Professor W. Brass at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Financial support was provided by the Medical Research Council.

Notes

This research was carried out for a doctoral thesis under the guidance of Professor W. Brass at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Financial support was provided by the Medical Research Council.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heather Booth

Heather Booth is Demographer at the SSRC Research Unit on Ethnic Relations at the University of Aston in Birmingham.