A study on socioeconomic and intermediate variables on fertility

In this paper an attempt has been made to examine fertility differentials of currently married rural women [in Bangladesh] by their socioeconomic (viz, education of women, land ownership and family type) and demographic (viz, age at the first marriage, duration of breast feeding and duration of post partum amenorrhoea for the child) characterisation. This study is based on data collected from 995 currently married women of childbearing age. It has been found that women's (i) level of education (ii) age at first marriage (iii) duration of breastfeeding and (iv) duration of post-partum amenorrhoea, are inversely related with fertility. Joint family shows higher fertility than that of nuclear family and land ownership reveals [a] U-shaped relationship with fertility.