Rural-urban differences in fertility in Korea

Abstract

This study is based on the 1974 Korean National Fertility Survey data. The study had two main objectives. The first, to describe the rural-urban fertility differences in Korea in relation to the demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of respondents. The second, to identify the relative importance of variables related to fertility within a rural and urban context separately. For the second objective, this study has used the Multiple Classification Analysis technique. The descriptive analysis reveals that correlations between the socio-economic variables and fertility are largely negative. The analysis also proves the independent influence of residential differences on fertility in the sense that all socio-economic and cultural strata show higher fertility among rural women than urban women married more than 10 years. The multivariate analyses of total number of children ever born (CEB), and children born (CB) during the five years before the survey for the women aged 35-49, show that age at marriage is the most important factor affecting fertility in rural areas. Among the socio-economic and cultural variables, husband's occupation and pattern of work in rural areas and education and ownership of material property in urban are important for total number of children ever born. For children born during the five years before the survey, education related variables appear to have strong negative effects in rural areas. The negative effect of education in rural areas could be increased with the prevalence of the family planning program. Show more