Socio-Demographic Determinants Of Fertility Behaviour Of Women: Evidence From A Panel Study Of Four South Asian Countries

Abstract

This paper aimed at estimating the socio-demographic determinants of fertility behaviour among women by using panel data of four developing countries of Asia (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal) for the years 1994-2013. All these countries are currently on third stage of demographic transition. The researcher used age at first marriage of female (AFMF), Contraceptive Prevalence rate (CPR), Educational Attainment of Female (EAF) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) as proxy measures of Socio-demographic factors that determine the fertility behaviour of women in South Asian countries. On the first step the researcher used descriptive statistics to know the average and variance values in data. On the second step Panel Least Square (OLS) method was used to estimate the relationship between the variables. Results of present study revealed that age at first marriage of female, contraceptive prevalence rate and educational attainment of female were negatively associated with total fertility rate, while, Infant mortality rate was positively related with total fertility rate. It was concluded that efforts could be placed on these socio-demographic variables to control or to regulate fertility behaviour of women.