The impact of mass media on fertility rates: An exploration

Abstract

Data were gathered from the United Nations Statistical yearbooks 1955-1972 in the effort to investigate the impact of the mass media on fertility rates. Only those years and countries or territories which included information on fertility rates number of daily newspapers per 1000 population number of radio receivers/1000 population number of television receivers/1000 number of cinema seats/1000 and per capita income in dollars were used. Examination of the relationships among the 4 types of mass media - televisions newspapers radios and cinema seats - reveals that they all are substantially associated with the reduction of fertility rates. This finding is inconsistent with the works that indicate printed matter to be more detailed and tended to be considered as a more credible source than other forms of mass media. The entertainment media of television is the strongest media variable associated wth fertility rates; newspapers radios and cinema seats in this order are also substantively related to fertility.