Factors Influencing Family Size: A Critical Study on Khulna District of Bangladesh

Abstract

Family size in any particular society depends on different socioeconomic and cultural factors. This study makes an attempt to examine the determinants of family size in the Khulna district of Bangladesh. The study was carried out in Paikgacha villages under Paikgacha Upazila and. Ward no. 31 of Khulna city under Khulna district. The study opted for survey research design and the unit of analyses was the head of households from the study area. Samples of 296 respondents were selected through simple random sampling and were interviewed with a semi-structured interview schedule. The bivariate studies were executed using chi-square to explore the probable association between family size and certain covariates. To know the marginal effects of independent variables, the OLS (Ordinary Least Square) model was measured. Results show that half of the households (54.1% to be exact) were small (had four or less than that members) in size. Besides, age, family income, educational status, number of surviving children, number of desired children, sex preferences, contraceptive use, family planning, and residence were linked with the size of the family (p<.005) as potential socioeconomic and cultural factors.