Socio-Economic and Demographic impact on Fertility (A Case Study of Khatwe Community of Gidha VDC inDhanusha)

Abstract

This study on "Status of Women and Fertility Behaviour Among NewarCommunity of Bhaktapur" was carried out by collecting primary data in thesmallest and the largest wards respectively Chochhen (ward number 9) andBharbachho (ward number 17) among 132 currently married women aged inbetween 15–49 and bearing at least one child in Bhaktapur municipality.In the study the fertility behaviour of the women were studied in terms of CEBwith respect to different demographic, socio – economic and intermediatevariables.The study have shown that the women at higher ages (45–49) had higher CEB(6.21) and the women married at lower ages (10–14) had higher CEB (5.66).The mean CEB of literate women(2.13)wasfound to bevery low as compared tothe mean CEB of illiterate women(6.05). It was observed in the study that thewomen attaining higher educational level hadlow mean CEB(1.29).In thestudy the mean CEB(5.02)of thewomenengaged in agricultural/HH workswas seen higher than the mean CEB of thewomenengaged in other differentoccupations.The study has set foot to prevail the conceptof positive relationship between childmortality and fertilityas higher mean CEB(8.67)was seen for the women withhigher number of child loss experience.Knowledge of family planning and ever use of contraception largely affects thefertility behaviour of the women. In the study it was observed that the womenwith knowledge of family planning have the least CEB (3.76) and the CEB (2.40)was found for those who were the users of contraception. Thus the studyconcluded an inverse relationship between them and fertility of the women.