The Human Fertility Database: aims, data, and methods

Aiva Jasilioniene, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Dmitri A. Jdanov, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Kryštof Zeman, Vienna Institute of Demography
Vladimir Shkolnikov, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and Vienna Institute of Demography initiated the Human Fertility Database Project, which aims to provide open access to detailed, well-documented and high-quality fertility data. The HFDP includes two parts: the Human Fertility Database and the Human Fertility Collection. The HFD is entirely based on officially registered birth data, which are further processed using uniform methodology. The HFC includes fertility rates and tables constructed by other researchers and institutions. The HFD website (www.humanfertility.org) will be launched in September 2009 and will contain order-specific data on births, unconditional and conditional fertility rates, cohort and period fertility tables, and aggregate indicators for Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and USA. More countries will be added over time. The HFD will be limited, however, to populations with virtually complete birth registration. The paper describes the objectives of the HFD, its structure, methodology, and data processing.