The impact of socio-economic factors on fertility behaviour: a cross-country analysis.

Fertility rates vary across countries. Pooled data on more than 100 countries over the period 1955-85 are used to estimate a model of fertility behavior. The author found the impact of socioeconomic factors to differ across different age cohorts such that the negative impact of improvements in female status upon fertility rates is higher among the younger age cohorts. Cross-country differences significantly affect fertility rates. Those differences, however, tend to diminish as countries become more developed. These study results indicate that both cross-country differences and changes in age composition of the female population should be considered when developing policies to control fertility and population growth. Moreover, improvements in female literacy appear to be the best way of controlling population growth.