Childlessness and its Effect on Fertility in India: A North-South Dichotomy

An attempt is made to study the levels and differentials of permanent childlessness and also to examine the role of childlessness in explaining the fertility differentials in India. The analysis has been done using third round of National Family Health Survey. The contribution of childlessness in determining the prevailing fertility of the India is further analyzed by computing average number of children ever born separately for all women and only women with at least one child. Results shows that level of childlessness is higher in urban women. The uneducated women and women educated but below secondary level (3.0 percent) reported relatively lower level of childlessness compared to women having secondary and higher level of education (4.0 percent). The non-rich women reported relatively lower (2.7 percent) level of childlessness compared to rich (3.2) women. Further, it is found that Southern region have a higher difference in mean CEB between the women with at least one child and all women as a whole than the Northern region. From the estimated figures, it can be concluded that higher levels of childlessness in the Southern region is virtually influencing the prevailing fertility levels. Thus, there is North–South dichotomy in the prevailing fertility levels because of the differential level of childlessness rates.