Female Education and Fertility Differentials by Religion in Murshidabad District, West Bengal
Keywords:
reproductive female education, fertility rate, fertility rate by religion, mean child ever born and correlationAbstract
Education is one of the most important factors indirectly affecting fertility behaviour
and believed to be the single most important variable accounting for a large reduction in
fertility. The present paper tries to investigate the relationship between female education
and religious fertility differentials in Murshidabad district, West Bengal. The study is based
on primary sources of data collected through a household survey. Mean Child Ever Born
(MCEB) is one of the measures of fertility, which is applied to find out fertility rates by
female education and religion (Muslim and Hindu). Choropleth maps and bar graphs
have been prepared to highlight spatial patterns of fertility. The finding reveals that advancement in female education helps in reducing the fertility rate in Murshidabad district.
