Why has fertility been increasing in Egypt?

Goujon, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4125-6857 & Al Zalak, Z. (2018). Why has fertility been increasing in Egypt? Population and Societies 551 1-4.

[thumbnail of 551_ang_population.societies.january.fertility.egypt.en.pdf]
Preview
Text
551_ang_population.societies.january.fertility.egypt.en.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives.

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

After declining slowly to 3 children per woman on average in the mid-2000s, fertility in Egypt has risen back to 3.5 children in recent years. Women are marrying earlier and more frequently. They also bear their children at younger ages. Some argue that this reflects an increase in religiosity. The labour market difficulties of Egyptian women, the most educated especially, provide a more convincing explanation. Faced with a lack of job opportunities and a slack labour market, women may be deciding to marry and have children earlier than previous cohorts, though without wishing to have larger families. If this is the case, the number of births should fall when these women have reached their desired family size.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Egypt, Arab countries, women, fertility, labour market, education, religion
Research Programs: World Population (POP)
Depositing User: Luke Kirwan
Date Deposited: 24 Jan 2018 09:10
Last Modified: 27 Aug 2021 17:29
URI: https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/15080

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item