SummaryThe analysis based on data collected as a part of the World Fertility Survey programme in four Muslim populations—Bangladesh, Java, Jordan and Pakistan—did not show a consistent pattern in rural–urban differentials in marital fertility. While no significant differential in current fertility by place of current residence is noticeable in Bangladesh and Pakistan, urban women in Jordan showed lower fertility than their rural counterparts. Cumulative fertility, when controlled for duration of marriage, was found to be higher in urban than in rural areas of Bangladesh and Pakistan, but no clear pattern emerged in Jordan. In Java, both current and cumulative fertility were higher in urban than in rural areas; urban women who had spent their childhood and were brought up in the urban environment showed, in most instances, higher fertility than the other residence groups.
Fertility in Pakistan during the 1970s