A study on the association between the ideal and actual number of children
Kim, E.S.; Lee, S.W.
In'gu Pogon Nonjip 8(2): 113-128
1988
PMID: 12342274 Document Number: 424532
This study is part of the series on the relationship between ideal and actual family size in Korea, based on interview data collected by the National Fertility Survey in 1985 by the Korea Institute for Population and Health of 8414 cases. The distribution of the ideal number of children by age indicated that age and number of children are highly correlated. Urban residents want fewer children than rural residents. Ideal family size has decreased to 2 from a high of 3.9 in 1967. Urban residents want 1.9 children, while rural residents want 2.2 children. Of those respondents still childbearing, 33.1% of the respondents had the number of children that they also said was ideal. 22.6% of the respondents had fewer children than they thought ideal; 44.3% had more children than they thought ideal. Of those respondents who had completed childbearing, 35.9% had the number of children they considered ideal, 8.3% had fewer children than they wanted, and 61.5% had more children than they thought ideal.