Neighborhood Context and Intra-urban Fertility Differentials in Tehran City

Today, different dimensions of human behaviors are studies in the different context of the city. One of these dimensions is fertility behavior. Fertility varies not only between cities but also within a city, between its different neighborhoods and regions. The aim of this article is to analyze the neighborhood fertility differentials in the Tehran metropolitan area. The method of study is secondary analysis of census data in 2011 and the analysis unit is 361 neighborhoods in Tehran city. The results indicate the role of the neighborhood Context in the formation of fertility behaviors. The descriptive results showed significantly fertility differentials among neighborhoods from 1.9 to 3.4 children ever born. Multivariate analysis showed that there is strongly negative effect of the neighborhood quality and its socio-economic composition on fertility. With controlling other variables, the socio-economic composition of the neighborhood has a significant role on the neighborhood fertility differentials. Therefore, fertility is not only influenced by individual characteristics, but also strongly influenced by the structure, composition, and cultural norms of neighborhood.