Volume 16 - Article 3 | Pages 59–96  

The proximate determinants of fertility and birth intervals in Egypt: An application of calendar data

By Angela Baschieri, Andrew Hinde

Abstract

In this paper we use calendar data from the 2000 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to assess the determinants of birth interval length among women who are in union. We make use of the well-known model of the proximate determinants of fertility, and take advantage of the fact that the DHS calendar data provide month-by-month data on contraceptive use, breastfeeding and post-partum amenorrhoea, which are the most important proximate determinants among women in union. One aim of the analysis is to see whether the calendar data are sufficiently detailed to account for all variation among individual women in birth interval duration, in that once they are controlled, the effect of background social, economic and cultural variables is not statistically significant. The results suggest that this is indeed the case, especially after a random effect term to account for the unobserved proximate determinants is included in the model. Birth intervals are determined mainly by the use of modern methods of contraception (the IUD being more effective than the pill). Breastfeeding and post-partum amenorrhoea both inhibit conception, and the effect of breastfeeding remains even after the period of amenorrhoea has ended.

Author's Affiliation

• Angela Baschieri - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom EMAIL
• Andrew Hinde - University of Southampton, United Kingdom EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

The geography of changing fertility in Myanmar
Volume 41 - Article 2

On the pace of fertility decline in sub-Saharan Africa
Volume 37 - Article 40

An editorial on plagiarism
Volume 24 - Article 17

Ethnic differences in transition to first marriage in Iran: The role of marriage market, women’s socio-economic status, and process of development
Volume 22 - Article 2

Unusually small sex differentials in mortality of Israeli Jews: What does the structure of causes of death tell us?
Volume 20 - Article 11

Fertility and union dissolution in Brazil: an example of multi-process modelling using the Demographic and Health Survey calendar data
Volume 17 - Article 7

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Educational trends in cohort fertility by birth order: A comparison of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Volume 51 - Article 36    | Keywords: birth order, cohort analysis, cross-national study, England, family size, fertility, Northern Ireland, parity, Scotland, Wales

Higher incomes are increasingly associated with higher fertility: Evidence from the Netherlands, 2008–2022
Volume 51 - Article 26    | Keywords: fertility, income, inequalities, Netherlands, parenthood

The short- and long-term determinants of fertility in Uruguay
Volume 51 - Article 10    | Keywords: fertility, panel data, stages of female reproductive life, time series, Uruguay

Predictive utility of key family planning indicators on dynamic contraceptive outcomes: Results from longitudinal surveys in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Uganda, and Côte d'Ivoire
Volume 50 - Article 45    | Keywords: contraception, contraceptive adoption, contraceptive discontinuation, contraceptive use, family planning, longitudinal data, methods, panel data, Performance and Monitoring for Action (PMA) surveys, sub-Saharan Africa

Religion and contraceptive use in Kazakhstan: A study of mediating mechanisms
Volume 50 - Article 21    | Keywords: contraceptive use, Generations and Gender Programme (GGP), Kazakhstan, mediation, religion, religiosity