The Determinants of Household Fertility Decision in Malaysia; An Econometric Analysis

Abstract

Fertility depends on household decision, which are strongly, influenced by economic and socioeconomic dimensions. Currently, the fertility level in the world varies greatly according to intergenerational relationship, socio-economics status, and socio-demographic characteristics of the nation. In general, more industrialized and economically developed societies have lower fertility than less developed societies. Also, more educated group with higher incomes have lower fertility than less educated group with lower incomes. This paper develops an empirical model to investigate the principal determinants of fertility in Malaysia employing panel data extracted from Minnesota Population Centre, Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, International provided by Department of Statistic Malaysia. In the empirical analysis count models are employed. The finding shows that marital status, owning a house and women child bearing age affects fertility decision. In addition, socio-characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, working class, level of education affect the fertility choices of the household.