Page 64 158. But as women's education and earnings improve, their dependence on children lessens, their aspirations expand, and the opportunity cost of bearing and caring for children rises. Women who have greater earning opportunity will tend to have smaller families.

159. When men's income rises, all else being equal, families tend to demand more of certain goods and services and to prefer larger families. (Children are in this sense a "normal" good.) But the assumption that all else is equal is wrong -- other things do not stay the same. For or.e thing, family aspirations shift. As family incomes rise over time, fertility declines. This pattern is sharper and more immediate as women earn more and contribute more to family income. Their earning opportunities tend to compete more with childbearing and childrearing. The care of children in many cultures requires much of their mothers' time so an increase in women's relative earning capacity is likely to increase the opportunitv cost of children and thus decrease fertility, even though it increases family income (Schultz 1989; Cochrane 1979).

160. Employment aside, more educated women tend to have smaller families (WDR 80,84). This effect emerges more clearly when research holds constant for husband's education and income (Schultz 1989). Exactly how education influences fertility is not fully understood (Cochrane 1979). Part of the effect is increased earning capacity, but part relates to family planning. Some evidence -- suggests that educated women are more willing to practice contraception because they are more interested in having smaller families (Cochrane, others). Other evidence suggests that more educated women are more willing and able to use modern, more effective, means of family planning (World Bank 1989a).

161. "Insurance births" and child care. Where children's health is poor, parents may consciously or unconsciously seek additional births to ensure the survival of some minimum number of children or tons. Basic health care for mothers and children, the ability to time pregnancy, and services and income that assure nutrition all improve children's health and so encourage parents to opt for smaller families. (Because so many more children survive, final family size usually does not fall because of improvements in child health. Changes in "demand influences" through female education, for examples -- are also usually necessary to slow population growth.) 162. Family Rlanning to achieve desired family size. Family planning services and information have been one of the main influences on family size in most countries. Having the option of family planning available is also essential to enable women to space pregnancies and so make time for other activities, including education and training, participation in the labor force, the teaching and care of existing children, and recreation. Demographics and women's choices are inextricably linked.

163. Worldwide, governments have agreed that couples have the right to information and the means to plan their families (World Population Conference 1984). Yet in most countries -- even those where couples want large families - - women are having more pregnancies than they say they want, according to data from the World Fertility Survey. In Pakistan, for example, some 40 percent of women now wish to have no further pregnancy. If this unmet need for family