Population Council Research that makes a difference

Population Association of America Annual Meeting
31 March–2 April 2011

Abstract

"Sources of fertility decline in South Asia: A regional analysis"
Batool Zaidi

Recent trends in fertility and its proximate determinants in the three populous countries of South Asia—Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan—are well-established thanks to successive national demographic surveys in all three countries. This research augments the existing literature by: (1) decomposing fertility change into contributions of changes in demand for children, changes in wanted and unwanted fertility rates, and changes in nuptiality, which brings into focus distinctions that are central to major frameworks for fertility decline; and (2) conducting the analysis at the subnational level (27 divisions/states/provinces), which recognizes the within-country heterogeneity in these large South Asian countries as well as cross-country shared legacies (Bengal, Punjab). We analyze fertility survey data collected in 1990–93 and 2005–07 in all three countries. We consider patterns of two types: associations between elements of the decomposition (e.g., change in the demand for children and change in the unwanted fertility rate) and geographic patterns.

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