The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Humans is Equivalent to R₀

Question

The total fertility rate (TFR) in humans is equivalent to R0.

Accepted Answer

The total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the prevailing age-specific fertility rates throughout her reproductive period. R₀ is the basic reproduction number, which is the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected individual in a population where all individuals are susceptible. In humans, the TFR is equivalent to R₀ because the number of children a woman has is directly related to the number of people she infects with the disease.