Factors associated with fertility change in India (1971 to 1985): a path-analysis model.

This paper studies the influence of socioeconomic variables on fertility. 7 socioeconomic variables are used as independent variables and fertility measures as dependent variables for the analysis. A path analysis model examines the causal factor for fertility changes in India at different points in time: 1971, 1975, 1981, and 1985. Results show that 1) the influence of socioeconomic variables on fertility is different during the past decades in India, 2) the socioeconomic variables which influence the crude birth rate may not be the same as those for the total fertility rate and the general fertility rate, 3) during the recent period, the female literacy rate alone made a major dent in the crude birth rate, 4) health and female literacy also influence the total fertility rate and the general fertility rate, and 5) during the recent period, literacy and health (bed-population ratio) had great influence on the general fertility rate.