The Impact of Modernization on Papago Indian Fertility

Abstract

This study investigates the demographic modernization process among the Papago Indians of Arizona. Data from the Papago population register are extensively analyzed with specific reference to fertility behavior. Interpretation of trends in the total Papago population indicates a stage of rapid population growth. Death rates are low as compared to birth rates. Age cohort data reveal an effect of overlapping generations as a source of growth. Points of change in Papago fertility behavior are also identified by the study of eight sample communities and a rural-urban differential is found. Married Papago women in Tucson display a patterning of age and sex which implies a large unmarried, childless group of females. Differential migration is a factor which contributes to the disparate age-sex distributions observed. It is concluded that the urban center of Tucson is on the leading edge of change with regard to demographic modernization among the Papago. The study is suggestive of the relevance of population anthropology.