There seemed to be an important difference in the use of birth control between the two areas. Urban women use it to space births as part of obtaining a smaller family. Rural women, on the other hand, use family planning after they have had the smaller family they want. Most rural women agreed married women should control their family size, but only after they had had some children. Although there have been substantial gains in female education in both urban and country areas and in all strata, primary schooling was the most usual attainment in rural areas, primary and secondary education were common in the lower and middle urban strata, and higher educational levels were likely to be confined to the upper urban stratum.
Education usually relates to lower fertility.
However, evidence from both areas suggests that this only occurred after a certain level had been reached. Incomplete primary education may, in fact, lead to increased rather than decreased fertility. Completed primary school apparently marked the point from which education lowered the probability of early marriage and larger families. The higher educational Ievels of the younger women gave them more practical knowledge and access to information as well as broader perspectives which predisposed them to birth control. Contraception also became more readily available and these two factors combined to bring about the observed reduction in fertility.