Researchers investigated whether men or women have fewer children. Using international datasets, they demonstrate that imbalances in population structure, particularly an increasing proportion of men, affect male fertility. While men used to have higher fertility than women globally, this has reversed, and women have and will have a higher fertility rate than men. The scientists offer recommendations to counteract the social implications of this trend.
Why would you use the fertility rates of men and women to measure the proportion of men and women at different ages in the population? Why wouldn’t you just measure the proportions directly?