Fertility differentials in two provinces of Papua New Guinea : East New Britain and Chimbu

Abstract

An attempt has been made in this thesis to study fertility differentials in two provinces of Papua New Guinea, namely, East New Britain (ENB) and Chimbu (CHBU)'. The basic data utilized are drawn from the unpublished 1971 census tabulations. The analysis is confined to women within the 15-49 age interval. Fertility differentials are examined according to two.variables - urbanization and level of education. The findings of the study indicate a higher level of fertility in the ENB province than the CHBU province. Levels of education and urbanization are observed to be lower in the CHBU province than the ENB province. Further observations in the CHBU province indicate that there is a lower proportion of literate males and females than in ENB province. The level of modernization, i.e. the relative degree of change from subsistence village living toward the substantial commercialisation, where a variety of new forms of consumption and services is available, is also observed to be lower in the CHBU province than the ENB province. These observations comply with conditions which are normally conducive to high fertility level, but in comparison with ENB province this does not seem to be the case. The observed fertility levels after the application of adjustment factors (Brass and Coale, 1968) tend to be closer in the two provinces. The relatively low fertility level observed in the CHBU province is considered from demographic and socio-cultural points of view. Other observations reveal that in both provinces there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between level of education of women and the number of children being born to them. This finding is consistent with that observed in Indonesia by Hull and Hull (1977, pp. 43-57) and in Papua New Guinea by McDevitt (1980). Show more