Fertility levels in relation to education in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of education on fertility levels in Pakistan using data for 4125 females aged 15-49 years from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey [PSLM] 2007-08 both at the aggregate and disaggregate level. The methodology of this study uses Poisson regression, the estimated results of which verify that education [measured by the highest class passed] has a negative and statistically significant impact on fertility levels, but this relation does not hold true for all levels of education. While higher secondary and higher education are significant across all specifications in the aggregate analysis, the impact of matriculation on fertility levels is mixed. Although, similar results are obtained from the disaggregate analysis, an interesting conclusion is that no level of education comes out to be statistically significant in affecting fertility levels in the provinces of Balochistan and NWFP