Fertility is determined by several demographic and socioeconomic factors including age at marriage, duration of married life, child spacing, education level, economic status, caste, religion, nutrition, family planning programs, and other factors like a woman's status in society. Early marriage before 18, longer duration of married life between 15-25 years, fewer years between births, lower education levels, lower economic status, and belonging to some castes or religions are associated with higher fertility, while higher education, economic development, better nutrition, family planning, and women's empowerment lower fertility.

1. Fertility and determinants

3. Factors affecting fertility
• Age at marriage –
• Marriage before 18 years
• If marriage is postponed from 16 to 20 – 21 years number of birts would
decrease by 20 – 30%.
average age of marriage is 22.3 years

4. • Duration of married life –
• 10 – 25 % of birth within first 5 years
• 50 – 55% within 5 – 15 years
• Spacing of children –
• Birth rate declines by postponing all births by 1 year

5. • Education –
• Inverse relation between education and fertility
• Increases knowledge,
• More exposure to news and media
• Increased female participation in family planning
• Raises the opportunity costs of women’s time
• Fertility rate 1.07 times higher for illiterate women

6. • Economic status –
Inverse relationship with fertility
Economic development is the best contraceptive
• Caste and religion –
• Higher in some religions
• Higher in lower caste among hindus

7. • Nutrition –
• Well fed societies have lower fertility
• Family planning

8. • Other factors –
• Place of women in society
• Widow marriage
• Breast feeding
• Customs and beliefs
• Industrialisation
• Housing
• Better health facilities

9. Fertility related statistics