The Decline of Fertility in the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region

This study investigates the decline of fertility in the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region. Fertility rates of the white population were computed for each of the 190 counties included in the region for the years 1930, 1940, 1950, and 1960. Four measures of fertility were used: (1) the crude birth...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces 1963-10, Vol.42 (1), p.89-96
Main Authors: Ford, Thomas R., DeJong, Gordon F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Birth rates
Censuses
Correlation coefficients
Depopulation
Economic regions
Ecoregions
Female fertility
Fertility
Fertility rates
Population migration
White people
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Summary:This study investigates the decline of fertility in the Southern Appalachian Mountain Region. Fertility rates of the white population were computed for each of the 190 counties included in the region for the years 1930, 1940, 1950, and 1960. Four measures of fertility were used: (1) the crude birth rate, (2) the child-woman ratio, (3) the general fertility rate, and (4) the general fertility rate indirectly standardized to the age distribution of U.S. white women 15 to 44 years of age in 1950. The hypothesis was supported that the recent decline in fertility was associated with net out-migration, which is highly selective of young adults. Net out-migration did not, however, account for the greater part of the decline. The ecological pattern of declining fertility showed the lowest rates to be in the metropolitan areas and in the more prosperous valley regions, while highest rates continued in the highland areas.
ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.2307/2574948