The influence of family size on the achievement of human capital by children aged 15-19 years in urban areas of Iran

The human capital is defined as knowledge, skills, and other abilities which will lead to improvement in the quality and level of production. The capital achieved at younger ages would have stronger effects on the progress at later ages. Family has shown to have crucial influence on the achievement. Iranian families are now experiencing a low level fertility, highly educated parents, and a relatively high level of family dissolution. Using data drawn from the Time Use Survey (conducted during 2008-2009), this paper aims to examine the effects of the number of children on the achievement of human capital by young children in urban areas of Iran. Target population includes 2183 never-married children aged 15-19 years. Findings show a negative relationship between the number of children and the achievement of human capital. A sharper difference exists between families with one or two children and families with 3 and more children. Multivariate analyses show the significant effects of the sex and age of children, and the mother's level of education. The presence of such control variables, however, does not change the effect of number of children. The results can show the sustainability of low family size (two-child family) in future.