Proximate determinants of fertility in India: an exploration of NFHS data
Leela Visaria
Economic and Political Weekly 34(42/43): 3033-3040
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0012-9976 Document Number: 526527
Variations in fertility are generally examined in terms of socioeconomic factors such as education, income, caste, place of residence. These factors can affect fertility only through intermediate variables such as proportion of females married, prevalence of contraceptive use, incidence of induced abortion and the fertility inhibiting effect on breastfeeding. The paper estimates the values of the proximate determinants of fertility for major states of India after examining available evidence and interstate variations in these factors.