Human Development and Fertility

This chapter analyses the association between human development and fertility based on the variation in the characteristics of human development and the level of fertility across districts. The analysis reveals that, although there is a statistically significant negative relationship between inter-district variation in total fertility rate and inter-district variation in the surface measure of human development, yet the relationship is not strong. Inter-district variation in the surface measure of human development explains only a part of inter-district variation in total fertility rate. The analysis suggests that there are factors other than individual capacity, individual knowledge and individual standard of living which have more dominating effect on inter-district variation in the level of fertility than inter-district variation in the three core dimensions of human development. Reduction in inter-district variation in human development, however, contributes to reduction in inter-district variation in fertility.