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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Income and Other Factors Influencing Fertility in China
Contributor:
Birdsall, Nancy;
Jamison, Dean T.
Published:
The Population Council, 1983
Published in:
Population and Development Review, 9 (1983) 4, Seite 651-675
Language:
English
ISSN:
0098-7921;
1728-4457
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<p>Analysis of factors influencing fertility levels in China leads to the conclusion that the relative importance of income differences has declined--at least for the period 1975-79, and probably longer. This is due to the sharp intensification of the government's family planning policies during this period, which suggests that additional income gains are unlikely to reduce fertility further. Moreover, analysis of province-level data from the 1982 census suggests that the relation between fertility and income has continued to weaken and that, within urban areas, higher income levels are associated with higher crude birth rates. In rural areas income remains negatively associated with fertility, but only very weakly so, and a reasonable prediction is that rural income and fertility will soon become positively associated as well. Family planning policy seems clearly to have reduced actual fertility substantially below desired levels given economic opportunities and constraints, at least in urban areas; in this environment, higher income appears to provide the means for couples to pay less attention to economic incentives and disincentives. The clear implication for policy is that, to the extent that incomes continue to rise, stronger measures will need to be implemented simply to maintain present fertility levels: either much larger economic incentives or a further increase in the already substantial use of noneconomic forms of persuasion.</p>