Myths of reproductive profligacy of poor: evidence from Mandya district

Rao, M.; Rao, M

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Myths of reproductive profligacy of poor: evidence from Mandya district

Rao, M.

Economic and Political Weekly 32(25): 1447-1449

1997

ISSN/ISBN: 0012-9976

Document Number: 556838

Data are presented of a survey of 584 households conducted during 1985-87 in Mandya district, Karnataka, India to examine the belief that the poor engage in profligate reproduction. Such an assumption is the basis of the countrys family planning policy, but the paper concludes that the assumption is false. Landless agricultural labourers and poor peasants have the smallest family sizes, governed by higher incidence of infant and child mortality, and lower levels of fertility as measured by the index of children ever-born.