Development and Fertility

How are they related

among countries?

within countries?

WOMEN, development, and fertility

When women are of higher status, is there more rapid fertility decline?

And does it depend on the overall level of development?

Fertility, development, and women

Does fertility decline lead to improved status of women?

And does change depend on the level of development?

Development and Fertility

• Does the level of development matter for fertility decline?

• Do those countries that are better off economically have lower fertility?

• Do those countries with better education of women have lower fertility?

Development and Fertility

• Does the level of development matter for fertility decline?

• The answer is unequivocal: YES

• Using individual measures such as per capita income, average education, health care, life expectancy, in each case, the higher the level of development, the lower the fertility

Economics and Fertility

• The Easterlin framework of supply and demand for children is often used to explain why countries that are better off have fewer children

• People demand fewer children because they want to use their money for alternative purposes and/or they want fewer children because they invest more in each of them

Development and Fertility Change

• Does fertility change more rapidly when there is a higher level of development in the country?

• We can ask this question both across countries and within a country

• This question was asked by Mauldin and Ross

They asked about program effort

• Policy and stage-setting activities

• Service and service-related activities

• Record keeping and evaluation

• Availability and accessibility of fertility-control supplies and services

Percentage TFR decline1975-90

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Very weak Weak Moderate Strong

Program effort

They also examined social setting

• Adult literacy

• Primary and secondary school enrollment

• Life expectancy

• Infant mortality rate

• % male labor force not in agriculture

• GNP per capita

• % urban population

Percentage TFR decline1975-90

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Low Lowermiddle

Uppermiddle

High

Social setting

Women’s education and fertility

• There is a strong relationship across countries

• As female literacy goes up, the total fertility rate goes down

• As female enrollment goes up, the total fertility rate goes down

Women’s education and other indicators

• As women’s education goes up, age at marriage goes up

• As women’s education goes up, infant mortality goes down

Within country relationships

• The inverse relationship between education and fertility takes different forms within countries

• In some, there is a continuous decline in fertility with years of education

• In others, a reversed U or reversed J-shaped relationship is found -- women with some education have higher fertility than those with none or very little

Threshhold effects

• In some countries, there is what has been described as a “7” relationship

• In these cases, there seems to be no change in fertility until a certain level of education -- and then a declining relationship is seen

Fertility increasing with education

• In a very few countries, a positive relationship between education and fertility is seen

• This type of relationship was what was predicted by early economic theory, which was based on the notion that those who were better off would “buy” more children

The education pattern varies with level of development

• The more developed the country, the more likely is there to be a strong inverse relationship between education and fertility

• The less the gender difference in education, the more likely is there to be a strong inverse relationship between education and fertility

• In the best off countries, differences by education diminish

Does education increase women’s autonomy?

• We first need to define autonomy

• Jejeebhoy breaks autonomy into:

• Knowledge autonomy

• Decision-making autonomy

• Physical autonomy - mobility

• Emotional autonomy - nuclear vs extended family loyalties

• Economic and social autonomy

Better educated women have more autonomy

• This relationship is found in many settings

• But there is a relationship to overall context and level of development

Evidence of greater autonomy

• Closer ties to husband and children - loyalty shifts from extended family

• Greater participation in decision making within the home

• Greater physical autonomy

• Greater self-reliance

But is education the only determinant of autonomy or

empowerment?Other factors to consider include age,

marital status, economic situation