India is the third largest economy and has the second largest population in the world. It achieved millennium development goal (MDG) on poverty reduction; however, gender inequality still persists. Maternal mortality rate is 190 deaths per 100,000 live births, representing a 65 percent decline...

Sri Lanka is an island nation with a population of 20 million. In 2012, per capita income was US $2,923. From 2003 to 2012, the economy grew at 6.4 percent annually. Post-conflict, growth increased to 8 percent in May 2009. The private sector drove growth together with public reconstruction in...

Nepal has made a remarkable progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in extreme poverty and education. Nepal has achieved MDG 5 but only one in three births is attended by skilled medical personnel. Disparities exist in access to maternal care by residence and...

Afghanistan suffers from poverty and low human development aggravated by 23 years of conflict. In 2012, the population was 29 million and per capita income US $268. Economic growth was estimated at 3.6 percent in 2013, down from 14.4 percent in 2012. The transition led to investor and consumer...

Using notions from the Second Demographic Transition theory and the Pattern of Disadvantage argument, I study how women’s risk of a first conception within different union types (single, cohabitation, marriage) is influenced by education in Hungary and whether this influence has changed over...

The 2000 censuses show that the proportion of women below age 30 who are mothers has dropped substantially in most Latin America countries, suggesting that the social imperative of early motherhood, which has long prevailed in the region, is weakening. Surveys conducted in 14 Latin American...

We examine the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy taking into account the employment (in)stability of both partners in a couple. We use data from four waves of the Italian section of the EU-SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Condition), 2004-2007, accounting for its longitudinal nature....

We investigate the decision-making process of having a first child, using theories on individualisation, lifestyle choices and negotiating partnerships as a starting point. We compare couples who had their first child at a relatively young age with those who had their first child at an older...

In this paper we study the changes of reproduction concentration among women, the levels of childlessness, individual factors influencing childlessness, and the contribution of childlessness to the concentration of reproduction in Austria for the female age cohorts 1917-1961. International...