The influence of wife's education on fertility in rural Egypt

Abstract

Based on survey data from rural Egypt, the effects of the wife's education on fertility and family planning were investigated and shown to be very important. In accordance with the results of most other studies, there is an inverse relationship with the number of live births. The wife's education is also shown to influence attitudes towards family size, spacing, and knowledge and approval of contraceptives, all of which lead to a high proportion of contraceptive use and help to achieve the desired family size. There was also a clear inverse association between the wife's education and pregnancy loss and infant mortality; these latter two variables showed positive correlations with the number of live births.(Summary in Arabic on p. 60)