Proximate determinants of declining fertility in Oman in the 1990s

Abstract

The current fertility rate in Oman declined dramatically from a very high rate of 8.6 births per woman in 1988 to 4.8 births per woman in 2000, a decline of nearly four births per woman or a decline of 44 per cent of total fertility over a period of twelve years. This decline has occurred in the absence of any official national level family planning programme. Using recent national level survey data and the Bongaarts framework of the proximate determinants of fertility, in this study an attempt has been made to identify the factors responsible for such remarkable decline in fertility in Oman. The results indicate that a decrease in the age-specific proportions of women who are married, followed by an increase in contraceptive use are the most important mechanisms by which fertility has declined in Oman. Women education and employment are likely factors that encourage couples to delay marriage and use modern family planning methods and thus reduce marital fertility.

Do increasing legal age at marriage and increased use of contraception will matter to achieve demographic goal: Revisiting the role of proximate determinants in Bangladesh

“…Multiplying all of the indices together by the total fecundity rate of 15.3 produces the predicted TFR for the population. The predicted TFR typically differs from the observed TFR because of underreporting of births, measurement errors of the proximate determinants, or the omission of any other potential proximate determinants that are influential in determining fertility levels in that particular population under study (Islam et al 2011).…”

“…Bongaarts (1978) in his classical paper termed these biological and behavioral factors as proximate determinants of fertility, since they directly affect fertility; and all other social, economic and environmental factors affect fertility through these factors. As these proximate determinants are well recognized for explaining aggregate fertility level, many researches exist till now for Bangladesh along with others developing and developed countries (Kabir and Uddin 1987, Islam et al 1998, Islam et al 2011, Rabbi and Kabir 2014. However, most of these approaches overlooked policy proposition regarding others proximate determinants; those also have précised influence on fertility decline.…”

What Went Wrong with the Achievement of Replacement Fertility in Bangladesh and Its Consequences on the Demographic Dividend: The Role of Proximate Determinants?

“…Multiplying all the indices together by the total fecundity rate of 15.3 produces the predicted TFR for the population. The predicted TFR typically differs from the observed TFR because of underreporting of births, measurement errors of the proximate determinants, or the omission of any other potential proximate determinants that are influential in determining fertility levels in that population under study (Islam et al 2011).…”

“…As these proximate determinants are well recognized for explaining aggregate fertility level, many researches exist till now for Bangladesh along with other developing and developed countries (Rabbi 2015;Islam et al 2011;Mahjabeen and Khan 2011;Erfani and McQuillan 2008;Kabir and Chowdhury 2004;Islam et al 1998, Islam andIslam 1993;Kabir and Uddin 1987;Wang et al 1987). Most of these studies are done to explain current fertility level of specific country or countries, though many of them estimated the required level of contraceptive prevalence rate to achieve replacement level of fertility (Mahjabeen and Khan 2011).…”

Transition to Second Parity: Role of Employment and Household Decision-Making Autonomy in Bangladesh

“…The reduction in the opportunity cost of time devoted to children (forgone wages) associated with an unemployment spell is expected to boost fertility [8]. Another study revealed that women education and employment are likely factors that encourage couples to delay marriage and use modern family planning methods which play vital role in reducing marital fertility in Oman [9]. It is also observed that, if the negative income effect from reduced work earnings is sufficiently large, unemployment may lead to increase in fertility level.…”