Influencing Factors of Fertility in Developing Countries: Evidence from 16 DHS Data

• Published in: Journal of international women's studies 2020-08, Vol.21 (6), p.419
• Main Authors: Rahman, Abdur, Islam, Md. Akhtarul, Yeasmin, Samia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Developing countries; Economic aspects; Health aspects; Human fertility; Statistics
• ISSN: 1539-8706; 1539-8706

Objective: This study aims to identify factors that have a substantial impact on the fertility performance of the human population in developing countries. Methods: We have used 16 different countries' demographic and health survey data to complete the study. To address the study objective, binary logistic regression random effect meta-analysis and random effect meta-regression are used. Results: At the end of the analysis, it is found that Odds Ratio (OR) for variable women's age is 0.06 [0.06; 0.07] for the event high fertility which is least among all other results. OR for education of women and partner be respectively 0.31 [0.25; 0.39] and 0.44 [0.35; 0.56]. OR for age at first marriage was found to be 0.47 [0.40; 0.56] for the event high fertility. On the other hand, per-capita-health-expenditure can explain 57.14% of the total amount of variation for the variable age at first marriage. Additionally, 49.17% of the heterogeneity can be explained by annual population growth for the variable type of place of residence. Conclusion: In a developing country, women's age is the most important factor to explain fertility performance. After women's age, an increase in education for both partners and women lead to fertility decline. Another unusual factor that influences fertility behavior is the per capita health expenditure of a country. A rise in per capita health expenditure ultimately leads to fertility decline. Keywords: Fertility, Factors, Developing countries, Meta-analysis