Asia-Pacific Population Journal - Volume 4, Issue 3, 1989

The 1988 Viet Nam Demographic Survey was the first country-wide demographic survey of Viet Nam. The sample was drawn according to the sample design recommended by the World Fertility Survey (WFS). It was a three-stage random probability sample of 4,800 households in 12 provinces and 151 communes.

The Nepal Fertility and Family Planning Survey (NFFS) 1986 is the most recent nationally representative demographic sample survey of Nepal. It collected information on all births and pregnancies; demographic and socio-economic background characteristics of respondents and their spouses; knowledge, availability, accessibility and use of contraceptives; and fertility motivation and breast-feeding. The NFFS was conducted for assessing the current status of the family planning programme and to monitor changes since the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey (NFS) and the 1981 Nepal Contraceptive Prevalence Survey (NCPS).

It is generally believed that the higher level of fertility prevailing in some populations has been sustained by certain religious tenets favouring large family norms. There are numerous studies which have demonstrated that Roman Catholicism has played an important role in upholding fertility at a relatively higher level on account of its consistent condemnation of artificial methods of birth control (Day, 1968; Murphy and Erhart, 1975). There are still other studies which have linked the relatively higher fertility prevailing in most Muslim populations to certain Islamic teachings concerning population control (Kirk, 1968; Nagi and Stockwell, 1982). There is, however, no general concensus among Muslim religious authorities about the different forms of birth control: the majority endorsing family planning, some sanctioning induced abortion, and most opposing sterilization.

Urbanization is characterized by the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas (Kupper and Kupper, 1985, p. 874). The term urbanization refers to such a redistribution of population as a demographic phenomenon, and the changing morphological structure of urban agglomerations and their development as social phenomena. The migration of populations links the rural areas with urban areas and is affected by “push” forces from rural areas and “pull” forces from urban areas. Different degrees of these forces determine the different pace, patterns and processes of migration and urbanization and the transition of populations.