Hypotheses concerning the relationship between social and demographic factors and norms of family size were tested on 1600 currently married women in Comilla-Kotwali thana, Bangladesh. The results indicate that religion, family type and age of woman are significantly related to desired family size. That is, mean desired family size was significantly lower for Hindus than for Muslims, for joint than for single family units, and for women in the “younger” than the “older” (30 years and older) age groups. Neither the hypothesized inverse relationship for socio-economic status, nor the smaller norm of desired family size hypothesized for cooperative members was supported. The role that the level of development and the status scale may plan in these latter findings is discussed.
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