Impact of Parental Education on Family Size : A Cross-Sectional Investigation

This article examines the effect of first-, second-, and third-level of parental education on the family size. The study further examines the effect of sex composition, particularly son’s preference, on family size. The present study is based on primary data and decomposes the effect of male and female education in choosing the family size. The results indicate that education of both male and female are negatively related to family size. In case where both parents are educated, they have more preference for small family compared to single educated parents. It also indicates the male dominance in choosing the family size. The study further reveals that large families on an average found positively associated with favourable male sex ratio in the family. It may be suggested that the education requires positive discrimination in favour of education among Muslims to break the vicious circle of low education, large family size, low per capita income and low education in next generation