Nahida Sultana

Socio-economic Status and Fertility Behavior of Women in Rural Bd: an Empirical Analysis on Two Village in Bagerhat District Nahida Sultana

Bangladesh is relatively underprivileged country in terms of such key indicators as per capita income and proportion living below the poverty line which constitute 40% of total population and 43.8% of rural population. Most of the rural women are illiterate, and possess very low socio-economic status. They are not aware of using family planning methods and this tendency of the rural women increases the rural fertility. There are some social stigmas such as early marriage, dowry, and limited property inheritance rights that cause misery for many rural women. For being married early, our rural women enter in the reproductive age very earlier. Moreover, Early marriage act as a great hindrance against women education. Rural women are excluded from social and household decision making process. Besides these, in the rural area fertility is directly and significantly influenced by the socio-economic status of the women.