Women differentials in fertility: The case of rural and urban educational development in Benue State, Nigeria

This study relates women education to fertility in the Ihugh (rural) and Makurdi (urban) setting in Benue State. The general purpose of the study is to test whether women with substantial schooling do have lower fertility than those without schooling. The study reveals that there is fertility differential for rural and urban settings, and that schooling is an index of the differentials. The study presents its findings and puts forward some recommendations that can help the government to address the issue of women education, especially the girl-child education.

Rainfall risk, fertility and development: evidence from farm settlements during the American demographic transition

I analyze whether variation in rainfall risk played a role in the demographic transition. The hypothesis is that children constituted a buffer stock of labor that could be mobilized in response to income shocks. Identification relies on fertility differences between farm and non-farm households within counties and over time. The results suggest that in areas with a high variance in rainfall the fertility differential was significantly higher than in areas with a low variance in rainfall. This channel is robust to other relevant forces and the spatial correlation in fertility. The effect disappeared as irrigation systems and agricultural machinery emerged.

Fertility Differential Among Lower Caste in Lamachaur VDC, Kaski

Fertility measures the rate of which a population adds to itself by births and is normally assessed by relating the number of births to the size of some section of population. It has been observed that the levels and patterns of fertility vary considerably in various sub groups of the same population in terms of educational attainment, occupation, age at marriage, contraception user etc. This study, therefore, attempts to study of fertility differential among lower caste people. This study is based on descriptive cum analytical research design. Every household of Dalit community in ward no 6, 7 and 8 of Lamachaur VDC are included in the study with a sample population of 85eligible women aged 15-49 years from 85 households. Fertility differential among lower caste people shows that most of the respondents were in the age group of 36-49 and then followed by age group 26-35 and 15-25. Higher fertility is concentrated in the age at marriage from 16 to 19 as compare to other groups of age at marriage. Literate respondents have low fertility as compared to illiterate respondents. Working respondents have high fertility as compared to non-working respondents. The users of contraception have high fertility as compared to non-users of contraception.But, there is no significant relationship between fertility and age of women, age at marriage, literacy status, occupation and users of contraception as measured by chi-square test. It is better to make women literate and to marry at the age after 19 to reduce fertility.Janapriya Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol. III (December 2014), page: 47-53

HINDU–MUSLIM FERTILITY DIFFERENTIAL IN INDIA: A COHORT APPROACH

SummaryHindus and Muslims together account for 94% of the population of India. The fertility differential between these two religious groups is a sensitive and hotly debated issue in political and academic circles. However, the debate is mostly based on a period approach to fertility change, and there have been some problems with the reliability of period fertility data. This study investigated cohort fertility patterns among Hindus and Muslims and the causes of the relatively higher level of fertility among Muslims. Data from the three National Family Health Surveys conducted in India since the early 1990s were analysed using a six-parameter special form of the Gompertz model and multiple linear regression models. The results show a gap of more than 1.3 children per woman between those Muslim and Hindu women who ended/will end their reproductive period in the calendar years 1993 to 2025. The socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of Muslims explain 31.2% of the gap in fertility between Muslims and Hindus, while the desire for more children among Muslims explains an additional 18.2% of the gap in fertility.

BLACK AND WHITE FERTILITY, DIFFERENTIAL BABY BOOMS: THE VALUE OF EQUAL EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY

This paper produces new estimates for white and black mortality and fertility at the state level from 1800(20)–2000. It produces new estimates of black and white schooling for this same period. Using a calibrated model of black and white parents, we fit the time series of black and white fertility and schooling. We then produce estimates of the benefits of equal education opportunity for blacks over the period 1820–2000. For the better part of US history, blacks have suffered from less access to schooling for their children than whites. This paper quantifies the magnitude of this discrimination. Our estimates of the welfare cost of this discrimination prior to the Civil War range between 0.5 and 20 times black wealth, and between 0.5 and 10 times black wealth prior to 1960. Further we find that the Civil Rights era was valued by blacks in the South by between 1% to 2% of wealth. Outside of the South, we find significant costs of discrimination prior to 1960, ranging from 6% to 150% of black wealth. For these divisions from 1960–2000, blacks have attained rough parity in schooling access. The welfare magnitudes are similar to the hypothetical gains to blacks if they had white mortality rates. We show that the model’s black and white human capital series are strongly, positively correlated with state output measures, black and white permanent incomes and black and white earnings.

Factors divide fertility between east and west areas of Bangladesh: implications for further strengthening the family planning program

Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data were used for the study. The results suggest that women in the East have an average of 2.34 living children compared to an average of 1.83 living children in the West. Women with all living female children are two times more likely to give births than women having at least one male child in the East. Sex preference is an important determinant of current use of contraception in Bangladesh. In the East, women with two sons are 1.9 times more likely to use contraception than women with two daughters. Current use of contraception divides the East and West for fertility differential. It also implies that the reduction in fertility may largely depend on increased use of effective birth control methods in future in Bangladesh. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsr.v26i1-2.20229 Bangladesh J. Sci. Res. 26(1-2): 37-46, December-2013