The Feasibility of Fertility Planning

The Feasibility of Fertility Planning: Micro Perspectives is a collection of papers presented during a conference held at the Institute of Development Studies in December 1975.

Part 1 gives an introduction to the paradigms and perspectives of population growth and rural poverty in Third World countries. This section discusses the need for a cross-cultural approach in coming up with recommendations that will vary in different social, economic, or political environments. Part 2 discusses culture and fertility, particularly the relationship between economic and demographic changes. A case study regarding the impact of the inter-relationships of economic, social, and political factors in the demographic processes in a Nigerian village is presented. Part 3 examines development and fertility including intra-rural migration. This section notes that the decline of the fertility rate in Sri Lanka is not related to the country's economic development, unlike in other countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore. Part 4 addresses planning and fertility to disaggregate the available macro-demographic data and analyze the rationale of the different fertility practices followed by various sections of the population. The paper emphasizes that the communities' social and self-interests should be taken into account, along with demographic factors, to improve their members' welfare.

Sociologists, administrators and chiefs of social welfare organizations, heads of health services, local and government officials, and volunteer health organizations will find this book highly valuable.

Contenu

Acknowledgments
Part 1. Introduction

1. Paradigms and Perspectives: A Cross-cultural Approach to Population Growth and Rural Poverty
2. An Analysis of Village Fertility, Mortality and Growth
   Part 2. Culture and Fertility
3. The Traditional Cultural Inventory versus the Elite Roadside Ecology
4. Continuity and Change: Abortion and Family Size in a Nigerian Village
5. From a Closed to an Open System: Fertility Behavior in a Changing Indian Village
   Part 3. Development and Fertility
6. Intra-rural Migration in a North Indian District
7. Underdevelopment and Declining Fertility in a Kandyan Village
8. A Sri Lankan Village on the Verge of a Demographic Transition
9. Education, Poverty and Fertility among the Wataita of Kenya
10. Changing Production Relations and Population Growth
    Part 4. Planning and Fertility
11. Population Planning in China: the Individual and the State
12. From 'Accommodation' to 'Intervention': Socio-economic Heterogeneity and Demographic Patterns
    Notes on Contributors
    Bibliography