Cambodia current fertility: the contextual effects

Bunnak Poch, University of Chicago

Cambodia current fertility remains high with a TFR of 4.0 in 2000, although a slight decline was observed during 1990s. In this paper, I emphasized to role of contextual factors in explaining fertility behavior among Cambodian married women using Cambodia data from 2000 CDHS and 1998 Census (district aggregate). The findings indicate that period-specific marital fertility rate is not declining for younger women. Current fertility (CF) was regressed separately for younger and older women on selected contextual and individual variables, controlling for available proximate determinants. The contextual factors remain important in predicting CF. Increasing women’s status and decreasing children’s economic role suppress fertility, controlling for all variables in the model. Women’s education is important only for younger women; while contraceptive use remains critical in lowering CF. Family planning policy makers should consider development factors beyond socio-economic characteristics of couples in lowering fertility in Cambodia.