Journal of Global Resources
Volume 4
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

January 2017

Page 76-81

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AGE AT FIRST CHILD BIRTH AND FERTILITY DIFFERENTIALS AMONG WOMEN IN
RURAL AND URBAN AREAS OF AJMER DISTRICT
Kirti Choudhary
Department of Geography, SPC Government College, Ajmer, India
Email: dr.kirtichoudhary27@gmail.com

Abstract: This paper examines the nexus between age at first child birth and fertility
differentials among women in rural and urban areas of Ajmer District. The objective of thestudy is based on the relationships that exist between various indicators of socio-economic
development and fertility level. Age at first child birth is an important phenomenon inunderstanding developmental process at both individual and societal levels. To achieve theobjective of the paper, empirical quantitative data is used. Findings of the study show thatirrespective of socio-demographic characteristics of women (such as place of residence,current age, occupational status, educational level, marital status and form of marriage),
women who had their first birth below the age of 20 years exhibit significant higher numberof children ever born in comparison with women who had their first birth by the age of 20
years and above. The age at first birth is a strong determinant, among others, responsible
for relatively high fertility level in the district. Thus, basic knowledge about the intricacies
and interrelationship between these variables is of direct relevance to planners andpolicymakers attempting to integrate population variables into development planning.
Consequently, it is imperative for policymakers to develop appropriate policies andprogrammes that will address and inhibit early age at first birth in order to control the highnatural population growth rate.
Key words: Fertility, Fertility Differential, Demographic Transition, Population Growth
Introduction
Fertility can be defined as the actual reproduction performance in a population based on
the number of live birth that occurs in a population and is largely responsible for the
replacement of population and for the continuation of society. Child bearing is the soleprerogative of women which occurs in a social set up and is therefore affected by the social
structure as well as societal customs, values, norms, beliefs and practices related tovarious aspects of bearing a child. Therefore, the understanding of beliefs and practices
related to the fertility becomes necessary for the study. The paper examines the nexus
between age at first child birth and fertility differentials among women in rural and urban
areas of Ajmer District. The objective of the study is based on the relationships that exist
between various indicators of socio-economic development and fertility level both atindividual and societal levels. To achieve the objective of the paper, empirical quantitative
data were used. In order to achieve this objective, the paper has been divided into four
sections. In the first section, previous studies on fertility are reviewed, second section
consist of the research methods adopted to achieve the stated objective of the study. The
third section contains the major findings of the study, while in the fourth and last section,
the major findings are discussed and essential recommendations are made.
Review of Literature
Many studies have revealed the relationship of fertility with social, cultural, economic,
demographic and psychological variables. For a better understanding of fertility behavioura few past studies are examined which have four prominent trends: macro-structural,76

micro-economic, psycho-social and socio-economic (Patel, 1994). Thompson (1929); Notestein (1945); Kirk (1971); Repetto (1979) and Mauldin and Berelson (1978), propound themacro-structural perspective of demographic transition. This trend focuses on societies andregions as units of analysis and shows that modernization and development leads todecline in fertility. Many efforts have so far been made to identify and assess socioeconomic dimensions which tend to influence the household fertility behaviour and thefamily-size desire. Becker (1960) undertook the pioneering work pertaining to relationshipbetween income and fertility. Becker hypothesized that income should have a positiveeffect on family size but found a negative relationship in the empirical test of his theory. He
attributed this phenomenon to the close association between parental education andincome, which resulted in reduced demand for children. Singh (1986), reveals that
respondent whose husbands were engaged in the lowest category of occupation had thehighest number of live-births but reverse was not true for the respondents whose husbands
were engaged in higher and prestigious occupations.
Many writers analyze the effect of education on fertility. Holsinger and Kasarda(1976) have observed that education may influence fertility directly by altering attitudes andbehavioural patterns of individuals and indirectly by affecting such factors as age atmarriage, acceptance of family planning along with infant and childhood mortality. Age atmarriage has been considered an important factor influencing fertility and birth rates. The
argument often advanced is that an increase in the age at marriage shortens the
reproductive span and delays the outset of childbearing which consequently results in the
reduction of fertility. Ridely and Sheps (1966) have demonstrated that an increase in age atmarriage affects fertility by changing the fertility schedule and the family building patterns.
Henin (1969) in his study of Sudanese tribes also found a close association between age
at marriage and fertility. The respondents who married late had fewer children than those
who married early.
It is often felt that the enhancement of age at marriage leads to a reduction in
fertility. The inverse association between the two has been depicted in various studies
namely, Agarwala (1966); Karkal (1968); Raman (1973); Goyal (1974) etc. In particular,
rising the age at marriage for women beyond 20 years has been viewed to cause areduction in fertility of about 15-30 percent by Talwar (1967) and Agarwala (1966). Das(1969) claimed on the basis of an empirical study, that women marrying between 20 and
24 have similar fertility to those marrying before the age of 20. However, with a marriage
age of 25 and above, there seems to be a different effect on fertility. Empirical evidence on
age at marriage by Gulati (1969) and Das Gupta (1974) clearly show that age at marriage
is higher in urban areas than rural and educated men and women marry later thanuneducated ones.
Methodology
Situated in the ‘Heart of Rajasthan’, the biggest state of India, the district lies between 250
38’ and 260 52’ North Latitudes and 730 54’ and 750 22’ East Longitudes. As per the census
of 2011, the population of Ajmer was 25, 83,052 persons spread out in an area of 8,481 sq.
kms. It has a density of 305 persons per square kilometers and sex ratio of 950 female per1000 males and a literacy rate of 70.46 percent. One of the basic characteristics of the
population obtained through the census is its Rural-Urban distribution. Ajmer has a rural
population of 1547642 persons and urban population of 1035410 persons. For acomprehensive analysis of the interrelationship the study include both rural and urban
areas. A two stage stratified random sampling procedure is adopted to select the sample
households. Sample selection is done in two stages. Stage one refers to selection ofvillages and urban blocks. In stage two households are selected. Ajmer has eight
Panchayat Samities. To obtain data 3-4 villages are selected from each Panchayat Samiti.
From each village 30-50 women respondents are chosen. Holistically from each Panchayat
Samiti 150 respondents are chosen for the present study. The district has eight towns.
Here also 150 respondents are selected from each town randomly. Thus, for the present

77study 2400 women respondents are selected in the age-group of 15-44 years. SPSS
software package was used to analysis survey data. Percentages, means, standard
deviation, Pearson chi square, t-test, analysis of variance and post hoc test of
homogeneous were the statistical methods used in the interpretation of quantitative data.
Results and Analysis
This part contains data on effects of age at first birth on total number of Children Ever Born
(CEB) by the sampled respondents. The section is divided into two main parts. The firstpart of the section contains information on impacts of adolescent fertility on the total parityof sampled women, while the last and second part of the section contains data on socioeconomic differentials in fertility levels of the respondents after controlling for age at firstbirth of the respondents.
Age at first birth and number of children ever born
Age determines the socio-psychological factor in fertility behaviour. The age of women at
the time of marriage and delivery determines time, duration, term, space, span and courseof delivery thus playing a vital role in fertility behaviour. The Table 1 shows the distributionof respondent’s age and mean live birth. Number of Children Ever Born (CEB) is
synonymous to parity. Data on parity in Table 1 show that there was a significant differencein parity levels of mothers in the study area. Specifically, adolescent mothers had relatively
higher parity levels in comparison with older mothers in the study location.

Present Age(in years)
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
Total

Table 1: Respondent’s Age and Mean Live Birth
Rural Respondents
Urban Respondents
Freq.
%
Mean live S.D. Freq.
%
Mean live S.D.
birth
Births
69
5.8
2.2
0.9
32
2.6
2
0
250
20.8
4.4
1.7
125
10.4
2
0
300
25.0
5.6
2.0
283
23.6
2.0
0.5
238
19.8
6.7
1.5
261
21.8
2.1
0.6
244
20.3
6.9
1.5
274
22.8
2.4
1.0
99
8.3
7.1
2.2
225
18.8
3.7
1.5
1200
100
5.7
2.1
1200
100
2.5
1.1

Source: Based on field survey

The table above reveals that mean age of the respondents in the rural areas is 29.6
years while in urban areas the mean age of the respondents is 32.39 years. The rural
respondents have a mean live birth of 5.7±2.1. The urban respondents have a mean live
birth of 2.5±1.1. The table also reveals that mean live birth increases with the rise in theage of women. The lowest number of children is recorded in younger women while thehighest number of live birth is recorded in women above 40 years of age. The table further
shows that as the age of the respondents increased their mean live birth also increased.
Analysis of variance showed marked difference in the mean live birth of different age
categories. The variance is significant at F. 01 level. Thus there is a positive relationshipbetween the respondent’s age and their fertility. The value of correlation coefficient is 0.54
in rural areas and 0.48 in urban areas.
Place of Residence
Previous studies have consistently observed that women living in urban areas have fewer
children than their rural counterparts. The explanations for this differences is often thatwomen in urban areas tend to have more education and are more likely to participate in theformal labour market. Consequently, these women are more likely to appreciate theadvantage of having a smaller family. At the same time, urban women are assumed tohave better knowledge of and access to modern contraception than women in rural areas.
The mean number of children ever born of the rural and urban respondents can be seen in
Table 1. Data on the table confirmed previous findings in the demographic literature: rural

78

fertility is higher than urban fertility. Women who delayed their first births till age 20 years
and above are not likely to have significant low fertility differential irrespective of their placeof residence (rural/urban), whereas adolescent mothers living in rural areas in the State will
have significantly higher number of parity compared with their counterparts living at urban
areas.
Current Age
Demographic studies in the traditional societies especially where there is little or no use ofcontraception, show a positive relationship between age and fertility level of women.
Women at the end of their childbearing age (i.e. age group 45-49) usually have high parity
level in relation to women in other age groups of childbearing age. The main reason behind
this is the fact that the more years a woman spent within childbearing ages; the more she
is at risk of conception and childbirth, especially when other fertility inhibiting factors (suchas delayed marriage, use of contraceptive methods, and induced abortion) are relatively
low in the community. Data on Table 1 showed a positive relationship between age of the
respondents and fertility levels of mothers. It is essential to note also that in each of theage groups, the fertility level of rural mothers is consistently higher than the fertility level ofurban mothers.
Educational level
Education is generally considered as a process by which society transmit its culture fromgeneration to generation. It is now seen as catalyst and motivator to social and economictransformation and fertility control. Sending children, especially girls, to school is given little
priority. Therefore, a very large proportion of couples, especially wives, are illiterate in rural
areas. The trend is now changing girls are being sent to school and a few are also going tocollege or completing their college education by appearing privately in examination.
Table 2: Level of Education V/s Number of Children in Rural Areas
Education
Mothers with Number of Children Born
Mean ChildLevel
1-3 4-6
7-9 10+E
C
Total%
Per Mother
Illiterate
0
90
302
21
21
7
441
36.8
7.5
Primary
13 200
61
0
11
5
290
24.1
5.5
Middle53 121
62
0
4
3
243
20.3
5.1
Secondary
43 114
0
0
2
2
161
13.4
4.1
Graduate
54
2
0
0
2
0
58
4.8
2.1
P.G. & higher
7
0
0
0
0
0
7
0.6
2
Total
170 527 425
21
40 17 1200 100
57

S.D.
1.4
1.4
2.1
1.3
0.6
00
2.1

Source: Based on field survey

Women education level and their mean live birth are shown in Tables 2 and Table
3. E in the tables denotes a woman expecting child, C means childless women and U isrelated to unmarried women. The Tables reveal that in the rural areas education is not
given importance while in urban areas 97.5 percent of the girls are educated. The tables
reveal that illiterate respondents have higher mean live birth as compared to the literate
ones. The difference in the mean live birth is statistically significant. Hence there is aninverse relationship between literacy and fertility of the respondents. The value ofcorrelation coefficient between education and number of children is – 0.67 in rural areas
and – 0.75 in urban areas. The analysis of variance reveals that in the two samples asliteracy level improves fertility declines. Further an attempt is made to study the fertility
differential by level of education of the literate respondents. It is clear from the above tables
that respondents having education upto primary level have higher mean live birth ascompared to those receiving higher education. The tables indicate that illiterate rural
respondents have a mean live birth of 7.5±1.4 while it is 5.1±0.4 in the urban areas. But, as
the levels of education improves the difference in the mean child per mother decreased. At
graduation and other level there is hardly any difference.

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Table 3: Level of Education V/s Number of Children in Urban Areas
Education
Mothers with Number of Children Born
Mean
Child
Level
1-3
4-6 7-9 10+
E
C
U
Total
%
Per
MotherIlliterate
0
46
1
0
10 12
0
69
5.8
5.1
Primary
11
51
0
0
13 23
0
98
8.1
4.5
Middle
44
62
0
0
7
10
0
123
10.2
3.4
Secondary
96
20
0
0
3
6
3
128
10.7
2.5
Graduate
479
0
0
0
0
4
18
501
41.8
2.0
P. G. &
261
0
0
0
0
2
18
281
23.4
2.0
HigherTotal
891 179
1
0
33 57 39 1200 100
2.5

S.D.

0.4
1.1
1.5
1.1
0
0
1.1

Source: Based on field survey

Education, especially of the women not only changes the outlook of the person
regarding value of children and ideal number of children preferred but also leads to greater
acceptance of family planning. It also raises the age at marriage, thus cutting down the
reproductive span of the women.
Occupational Status
Occupation is the human effort in the scenario that one puts in to earn one’s bread. Gainful
employment of women is reported to curtail fertility (U.N. 1961; Mandelbaum 1974;
Papanck 1973). Anand (1967), George (1978) and Arora (1983) found that working women
had lower fertility as compared to the non-working women. Table 4 gives an overview ofthe occupation of the respondents. It indicates that 91.8 percent rural respondents are
employed in household and domestic works. The remaining 8.2 percent respondents areworking as agricultural labourer, peon, domestic servants, daily wages, dai, clerk etc. In theurban areas 57 percent respondents are working as teachers, bank clerks, telephone
operators, lecturers, tailor, cashier, bank officers, engineers, peons, domestic servants etc.
Table 4: An Overview of Working & Non-working Respondents
Respondents
Rural
Urban
Total
Occupation
Respondents
Respondents
Respondents
Status
Freq.
%
Freq.
%
Freq.
%
Working
99
8.2
683
57
782
32.6
Non working
1101
91.8
517
43
1618
67.4
Total
1200
100.0
1200
100
2400
100.0
Source: Based on field survey

The remaining 43 percent respondents take care of the domestic works. Most
opportunities for development are concentrated in urban areas while most rural women arecaught in a vicious circle of illiteracy, poverty and ignorance. In such circumstances theirchances of utilizing opportunities for higher education are very limited. Consequently theirchances of pursuing careers are also limited.
Findings and Recommendations
The study revealed major findings about fertility differentials along different socio-economic
background of women in the District. One, early child bearing shortens the period between
generations, extends the reproductive life span and tends to be associated with highpopulation growth. Thus it is essential to note that life time pattern of fertility is likely to beestablished during adolescence; those who start having children early generally have morechildren at shorter interval than those who embark latter on parenthood. Two, the study
shows that rural fertility is higher than urban fertility. Three, the study reveals positive
relationship between age of the respondents and fertility level. The rural mothers exhibit

80high fertility levels at all levels than urban mothers. Thus it can be deduced that to reduce
fertility level policy makers and programme planners should aim at discouraging early childbirth in all its totality. The findings support the significant positive relationship between
current age and total number of children ever born. Four, there is a significant fertility
differentials with levels of education. Specifically, the study shows a significant negative
relationship between women education and fertility level in the study area. Data on effects
of age at first birth on fertility level in the rural and urban areas of Ajmer District show thatirrespective of socio-economic and demographic backgrounds of women such as place ofresidence, current age, occupational status, educational level rural mothers exhibit higher
level of fertility in comparison with the urban mothers when the later were at similar
categories to the former. Thus, timing of first childbirth is a significant and dominant
explanatory variable to explain fertility differentials and high natural population growth ratein the study location. In order to achieve the nation policy of small family norm, conscious
efforts should be put together to articulate, design and implement appropriate intervention
programmes (such as compulsory education for female children up to senior secondary
school level and sex education for the adolescents) that will inhibit teenage pregnancy andmarriage and invariably adolescent fertility in country.
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