Determinants of racial fertility differentials in some urban areas of South Africa.

Abstract

Results of a survey of some urban areas in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereenining region show differential impacts of proximate and socioeconomic factors on the fertility of urban blacks and whites. Timing of starting and ending of childbearing and the reproductive behaviour of women who have never been married account for the major differences in fertility levels. White women confine their childbearing career to the 20-39 age range, while black women utilise the entire 15-49 age range. The fertility level is quite high among black women who have never been married (in contrast to never married white women). With the exception of breast-feeding, racial patterns in other proximate determinants of fertility do not suggest the observed racial differentials in fertility.