Fertility among women in Small Cities

Abstract

This article is related to an exploratory study about fertility among women in Kashan region, which was conducted in the end of 2018. Research population included 129144 married women who live in the region, out of which 720 persons were selected as the sample and studied in the cities of Kashan, Aran- Bidgol, Badrood, Ghamsar and the village of Yazdel. Findings shows that most of women tended to have a “normal fetitlity pattern” i.e. having two or three children, but they actually had fewer than two ones. It shows a gap between the propensity to fertility and the reality of childbearing among women in the region. Indeed, beside of the macro socio-economic circomstances of the country, there are some micro-level factors impacting on the propensity to childbearing. In this regard, the results of the study show that some variables such as age, ducation, marriage duration and job status had significant relations with childbearing and propensity to it.