A Survey on the Factors Affecting Fertility of Married Women Aged 35-44 in Selected Provinces

Fertility has significantly reduced in Iran during the past few decades. This reduction is a pervasive phenomenon in all provinces of Iran. However, there are still significant differences in fertility at the provincial level. The present paper aims to assess determinant factors of fertility in the three provinces of Booshehr, Hormozgan, and Kohgilooye and BooirAhmad with distinct fertility levels.  The data for this study are drawn from a survey in 2012 and the sample comprise of 1149 married women aged 35-44 years resided in these provinces. The main question is that how much of differences in fertility is attributable to ideational factors and how much is attributed to socio-demographic factors? The results show that mother’s education, mother’s age at first birth, and sex composition of children are main determinants of fertility and have the most important effects in explaining variations in fertility. According to this study, we argue that socio economic determinants, compared to ideational factors impart greater influence on fertility and fertility behavior in these provinces is better explained by socio–economic approach than ideational approach.