Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T07:30:48.640Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rural–urban differentials in fertility levels and fertility preferences in West Bengal, India: a district-level analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2019

Sayantani Chatterjee Open the ORCID record for Sayantani Chatterjee [Opens in a new window]
Sayantani Chatterjee*
Affiliation:
International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Fertility in West Bengal is one of the lowest in India, and this relies heavily on the use of traditional methods of contraception. Social scientists and demographers have pointed to the historical role of the diffusion process of adhering to a small family size. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Kolkata district, the state capital, is the lowest in the country, and has been a centre of low fertility historically. However, stark differences in rural–urban fertility rates have existed over the last few decades in West Bengal, but these have now started to narrow. This study aimed to capture the macro-level rural–urban differences in fertility levels and preferences in the West Bengal, and understand how socioeconomic factors affect these. Data were drawn from the Census of India (2011) and NFHS-4 (2015–16). Using census data and the Reverse-Surviving Method, the TFR of West Bengal was estimated to be 1.9, varying between 2.1 and 1.7 in rural and urban areas. The rural–urban gap in the district-level fertility rates was prominent, specifically in districts with higher levels of fertility. Kolkata, Hugli and North Twenty-Four Parganas had the lowest-low fertility (TFR = <1.5). Fewer than half of women with only one living child wanted further children, and this was somewhat higher in rural areas. Around 40% of women had achieved their desired number of children. However, a substantial proportion (43.1%) had a lower number of children than desired, varying between 45.9% and 41.7% in urban and rural areas, respectively. Contraception use, female education and age at marriage, along with the other socioeconomic factors, had a greater influence on rural fertility rates than on urban counterparts in the districts of West Bengal. Further research should be directed at understanding the contemporary fertility decline as well as the gap between ideal and desired number of children, specifically in those districts with very low fertility rates.

Keywords

Rural–urban differentials in TFRReverse-Survival MethodWest Bengal
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 117 - 131
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amin, S, Basu, AM and Stephenson, R (2002) Spatial variation in contraceptive use in Bangladesh: looking beyond the borders. Demography 39(2), 251–267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Amin, S and Lloyd, CB (2002) Women’s lives and rapid fertility decline: some lessons from Bangladesh and Egypt. Population Research and Policy Review 21(4), 275–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basu, AM and Amin, S (2000) Conditioning factors for fertility decline in Bengal: history, language identity, and openness to innovations. Population and Development Review 26(4), 761–794.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bhat, PM (1996) Contours of fertility decline in India: a district level study based on the 1991 census. In Srinivasan, K (ed) Population Policy and Reproductive Health. Hindustan Publication: New Delhi.Google Scholar
Census of India (2011) Census of India, 2011. URL: http://censusindia.gov.inGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekaran, C and George, MV (1962) Mechanisms underlying the differences in fertility patterns of Bengalee women from three socio-economic groups. Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 40(1), 59–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chatterjee, S and Kastor, A (2018) To what extent do couples’ pre-marital communications affect their post-marital fertility behaviour in India? Journal of Biosocial Science 50(4), 435–450.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Das, A (2004) Fertility transition and threshold estimation: a district-level analysis in India. Journal of Social and Economic Development 3(2), 216–244.Google Scholar
Das, M and Mohanty, SK (2012) Spatial pattern of fertility transition in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar: a district level analysis. Genus 68(2), 81–106.Google Scholar
Dyson, T and Moore, M (1983) On kinship structure, female autonomy, and demographic behavior in India. Population and Development Review 9(1), 35–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghosh, S (2017) Second demographic transition or aspirations in transition: an exploratory analysis of lowest-low fertility in Kolkata, India. Asian Population Studies 13(1), 25–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilmoto, CZ and Rajan, SI (2002) District level estimates of fertility from India’s 2001 Census. Economic and Political Weekly 37(7), 665–672.Google Scholar
Guilmoto, CZ and Rajan, SI (2013) Fertility at the district level in India. Economic and Political Weekly 48(23), 59–70.Google Scholar
Hajnal, J (1953) Age at marriage and proportions marrying. Population Studies 7(2), 111–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IIPS and ICF (2017) National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015–16. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai.Google Scholar
IIPS and ORC Macro (1995) National Family Health Survey 1998–1999, India. International Institute for Population Sciences/ORC Macro International, Mumbai.Google Scholar
IIPS and ORC Macro (2000) National Family Health Survey 1998–1999, India. International Institute for Population Sciences/ORC Macro International, Mumbai.Google Scholar
IIPS and ORC Macro (2007) National Family Health Survey 2005–2006, India. International Institute for Population Sciences/ORC Macro International, Mumbai.Google Scholar
Khan, AA (2013) Rural–urban fertility gap and fertility adaptation by rural to urban migrants in Punjab: a case of Bahawalpur District. South Asian Studies 28(2), 445.Google Scholar
Kuznets, S (1974) Rural–urban differences in fertility: an international comparison. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 118(1), 1–29.Google Scholar
Mandal, NK, Mallik, S, Roy, RP, Mandal, SB, Dasgupta, S and Mandal, A (2007) Impact of religious faith and female literacy on fertility in a rural community of West Bengal. Indian Journal of Community Medicine 32(1), 12–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohanty, SK, Fink, G, Chauhan, R and Canning, D (2016) Distal determinants of fertility decline: evidence from 640 Indian districts. Demographic Research 34, 373–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohanty, SK and Rajbhar, M (2014) Fertility transition and adverse child sex ratio in districts of India. Journal of Biosocial Science 46(6), 753–771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nag, M (1984) Fertility differential in Kerala and West Bengal: equity–fertility hypothesis as explanation. Economic and Political Weekly 19(1), 33–41.Google Scholar
ORGI (2014) Sample Registration System. SRS Bulletin, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi. URL: http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011Common/Sample_Registration_System.htmlGoogle Scholar
Pakrasi, K and Halder, A (1981) Fertility in contemporary Calcutta: A Biosocial Profile. Genus 37(3-4), 201–219.Google ScholarPubMed
Ram, U, Jha, P, Ram, F, Kumar, K, Awasthi, S, et al. (2013) Neonatal, 1–59 month, and under-5 mortality in 597 Indian districts, 2001 to 2012: estimates from national demographic and mortality surveys. The Lancet Global Health 1(4), 219–226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, WC (1961) Urban–rural differences in Indian fertility. Population Studies 14(3), 218–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar