Changes in age at marriage of females and their effect on the birth rate in India.

Abstract

Relation between age at marriage and completed size of family has been studied by many demographers, but no consistent relationship has been demonstrated (Sinha, 1952; Smith, 1960; Tuan, 1958). Although the average numbers of children ever-born generally decrease with rise in age at marriage, sometimes females marrying below 16 years of age have been found to have fewer children ever-born than those marrying at ages 16 to 18 years. I t has been said that the females under 16 years may not have been physiologically fully developed to carry their pregnancies to a successful end, and quite often their pregnancies may terminate in early or late foetal deaths, thus impairing their future reproductive capacity. However, with regard to studies made in various parts of India, a broad generalization could be made that women marrying later than 19 years of age had approximately one child less than those marrying between the ages of 15 and 19 years. For example, in The Mysore Study, it was found that females marrying between 14 and 17 years gave birth to 5.9 children, while those marrying between 18 and 21 years eventually gave birth to only 4.7 children (United Nations, 1961).