Comparing determinants of fertility behaviour among Kurdish women living in rural areas of Ravansar and Gilangharb cities

Background: Population has an important role in socio-economic and political planning. Fertility, along with mortality and migration is the main determinant of population change. Fertility decline in recent years in the country and rural areas, especially in under study rural areas, is also studied not as a social problem, but as a phenomenon worthy of study in a semi-traditional society. The aim of this study is to compare determinants of fertility behavior among Kurdish women living in rural areas of Ravansar and Gilan gharb cities.

Methods: Data were taken from a survey conducted on 550 eligible women for the study. A combination of random and systematic sampling methods was used to collect data through questionnaires.

Results: the average number of children ever born by the women living in rural areas of Ravansar and Gilan gharb were respectively 2/36 and 2/41. Results also showed that the mean age of marriage, monthly costs of children, and education among women in Gilan gharb were more than their counterparts in Ravansar. In both regions, the relationship between variables of age of marriage, education, employing contraceptive methods and monthly costs of children and fertility were negative and significant, and the relationship between the ideal number of children and jobs of woman with fertility was both direct and significant. In addition, the relationship between woman religions with fertility behavior was not significant.

Conclusion: Results implies a convergence in fertility behavior of women, despite differences in social, economic, and demographic characteristics as well as proximate determinants.