Factors affecting fertility in four Muslim populations: a multivariate analysis

Abstract

SummaryData collected as part of the World Fertility Survey programme in the mid-1970s in four Muslim populations (Bangladesh, Java (Indonesia), Jordan and Pakistan) show that the demographic variables age at first marriage, duration of marriage, status of first marriage and experience of child loss explain most of the variations in fertility among these populations. There was no consistent pattern which could explain fertility differentials by selected socioeconomic variables. Fertility differentials by wife–husband education and childhood–current residence were found not to be in the expected direction in most of the populations. Fertility transition has not yet started among the majority of the people in these populations.