Regional Educational Opportunities and Fertility Responses in Developing Countries

Abstract

This research examines the relationship between regional educational opportunities and the fertility decisions of women. Since the announcement of the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations in 2000, global schooling levels have risen at an increased rate. This thesis looks at the fertility responses of women who are not themselves beneficiaries of increased educational opportunities in their regions, but whose future children will be. The theoretical framework for this leads to an ambiguous conclusion, calling attention for the need of an empirical examination of this issue. Utilizing survey data from 30 countries, an inverse relationship is found between regional educational opportunities and fertility.