Fertility, Parental Education and Development in India: New Evidence from National Household Survey Data

This paper empirically investigates the determinants of fertility drawing upon large household data sets in India, namely NSS and NFHS over the period 1992-2006. Broadly similar and consistent results are found for the two surveys for different years. We have found a negative and significant association between the number of children and mother' s education. Both direct and indirect effects are observed for mother's education which not just directly reduces fertility but also increases mother's potential wages or opportunity costs which would deter her from having a baby. Father's education became increasingly important in reducing fertility in the last two rounds.