Recent Changes in Micro-Level Determinants of Fertility in India: Evidence from National Family Health Survey Data

This paper investigates the determinants of fertility and their changes in recent years, empirically, drawing upon large household data-sets in India, namely National Family Health Survey data over the period 1992--2006. It is found that there is a negative and significant association between the number of children and levels of parental education when we apply OLS, ordered logit and pseudo panel models, while in the case of IV model only mother's literacy is negatively associated with the number of children. The results of OLS and ordered logit models imply that households belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) tend to have more children than other social groups. Our results suggest that policies of national and state governments to support social infrastructure, such as the provision of education at various levels, and its promotion for both males and females, particularly for households belonging to SCs, would make a significant contribution to efforts to reduce fertility and decelerate population growth.