Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Abstract:
Fertility analysis is of central importance in Demography as births are a vital component of population growth. The study of fertility also provides important information about women?s reproductive behaviour and attitudes. This paper deals with the Fertility transition in Oman. Fertility transition in Oman is investigated by using the 1995 Oman Family Health Survey data. A close investigation of the fertility data indicate that fertility has been declining since 1995 despite the fact that fertility is still considerably high with about five children per woman. The proximate determinants of fertility developed by Bongaarts were also used to assess their contributions in fertility transition. The Bongaarts indices show that among the four principal determinants, lactational infecundability contributed most to fertility transition in Oman followed by marriage. The fertility transition in Oman can be attributed to the socio economic development such as increased education of women and empowerment of women which will increase the age at marriage of females in future contributing to the small family size in Oman. This study will provide important policy direction for future population control planning of Oman.

Keywords: fertility, mortality, infecundability, proximate determinants.

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