birthrate

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"birthrate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“birthrate” is uncommon English (frequency #68,045 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,045
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.

Corpus desk

Index EN-birthrate · birthrate · English

birthrate · rank #68,045 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,045
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH biomed

Nearest frequency peer: biomed (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “birthrate”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “birthrate” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for birthrate
PropertyValue
Headwordbirthrate
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#68,045
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “birthrate” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).birthratefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “biomed” (#68,044), “Biscay” (#68,046), “biogeography” (#68,043). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “birthrate” is #68,045. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

birthrate is uncommon English at frequency #68,045 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for birthrate, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: From birth + rate. The correct English form is birthrate, spelled B-I-R-T-H-R-A-T-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how birthrate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. In higher education a similar transformation is being pulled forward: Colleges were expecting a grim landscape in the later 2020s, because 2010s birthrates were so low, but now a decline in foreign enrollment and an acceleration of online learning will threaten marginal state schools and possibly close small liberal-arts colleges much sooner.
  2. In 2023, the birthrate fell for the eighth consecutive year to 0.72, the lowest in the world, from 1.24 in 2015, raising concerns over the economic shock to society from such a rapid pace.

Etymology

From birth + rate.

This word in other languages

natalidad(Español)taux de natalité(Français)Geburtenrate(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "birthrate"?
"birthrate" is spelled B-I-R-T-H-R-A-T-E.
What does "birthrate" mean?
As a noun, "birthrate" means: The ratio of total live births to total population for a specific community or nation in a specified period; often expressed in births per thousand per year.
What is the origin of the word "birthrate"?
From birth + rate. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "birthrate", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

bicameral#68,042bellicose#68,038baselines#68,033bunkhouse#68,068

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list