The impact of development programmes on fertility: A framework for analysis

There is a considerable body of research which strongly suggests that fertility is at least as much a socio-economic process as it is a purely biological one. Fertility is “caused” by a host of social, economic and psychological factors as well as by fecundity itself. From this it follows logically that any public sector programme which affects the socio-economic context will affect fertility, whether it is intended to do so or not.