§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the average family size in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and the European Economic Community as a whole in 1970 and each five years thereafter, including data for 1989 or the latest available date.
§ Mr. FreemanThe table gives total period fertility rates—which are the only available reasonably comparable measures of average family sizes for the areas concerned. The total period fertility rate is the average number of children which would be born per woman if women experienced the age-specific fertility rates, as recorded at a particular point in time, throughout their entire childbearing lifespan.