Late fertility and Postponement Behavior Among Higher Educated Women in India: Does their Work Status Make Difference?

Is it abnormal that almost 8% Indian women who are higher educated nowadays getting their first child at age 30 or above. So what is the ‘normal’ age of having a first child and when we do talk about late fertility. From a biological and health prospective, the best timing is before a women turns 24 years of age but from a socio-economic prospective, the best timing probably somewhat latter as women is better educated and with a good position in the labour market. Thus postponement behavior prevails. As fertility is increases at later parental ages in most developed countries and this phenomenon is a recent emergence in developing countries. Though, late fertility is not a dominant phenomenon in India but it is an emerging phenomenon. However, virtually there is no formal effort to quantify the late fertility in India. The present paper is just one step in this direction.