The total fertility rate involves looking at the fertility rates of different age groups of women and combining them to create a fertility rate for a single abstract "woman of Taiwan" at a given point in time.
不過，總生育率是在「目前的時點」衡量不同世代女性的生育率，並假設不同世代女性的生育機率加總起來，可以代表同一女性終其一生生育的子女數。