A TRUE RATE OF POPULATION-GROWTH - LOTKAS INTRINSIC RATE OF NATURAL INCREASE REVISITED

In this paper, Lotka's intrinsic rate of current population growth is evaluated. A new method of computing the net reproduction rate and a new rate of population growth are proposed. The proposed rate is the rate of growth of the female population per woman per year. The rate is positive, equal to zero, or negative as a population is increasing, remaining stationary, or decreasing. The rate for the 1987 U.S. white female population was R = -0.0037. This means that the white population was decreasing in 1987 and was losing 3.7 females for every 1000 women per year.