ECONOMIC-DEVELOPMENT, CONTRACEPTION AND FERTILITY DECLINE IN MEXICO

In recent years the observed rate of population growth in Mexico has shown evidence of decline from previous high levels. This decline in fertility has been linked to a shift from ‘natural fertility’ to deliberate family size limitation. This article utilises a choice theory based on a three-equation simultaneous model to analyse determinants of contraception, desired number of children and fertility. Information for the empirical application is from the 1976 Mexican Fertility Survey. The results show that a simultaneous choice model predicts the consequences of modernisation on human fertility and suggests ways that modernisation affects fertility by proximate or intermediate variables. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.