Land holding education and desired family size in rural Nepal : the case of Shivaganj village

Abstract

This study examines the inter-relationships between measures of socio-economic status and levels of fertility. Socio-economic status is measured by ownership of land holding, education, and caste/ethnicity. Levels of fertility are measured by desired family size and number of children ever born. The study is based on data collected from 241 households in a village in the eastern terai region of Nepal during December-January 1986-1987. The sample consists of 107 female respondents and 134 male respondents. Fertility is found to be a non-linear function of land holding and education. Desired family size and children ever born are found to be higher for those who owned land, rented land from others, and were literate. To a certain degree, both an increase in the size of land holding and schooling up to five years are found to be associated with increasing levels of fertility, after which fertility tends to decline. There are no marked differentials in desired family size and children ever born across categories of caste/ethnic respondents, except for the indigeneous terai group. The terai group has lower fertility than all other groups. Economic and other expectations from children are high for all categories of respondents except the higher schooling group, underlining the importance of education. The study village is in the first phase of fertility transition. Although knowledge of contraception has reached a wide spectrum of the society, only a quarter of all couples were found to be contracepting . The latent demand for contraception is thus considerable in the study village.