On the Compression of Reproductive Spans: the case of Andhra Pradesh in India

Many women in Andhra Pradesh marry early, have two or three children and accept voluntary sterilization at very early ages. The state has recently succeeded in reducing fertility to near replacement levels. Data from the second round of the National Family Health Survey are used to examine the duration between first marriage and sterility by distinguishing different marriage cohorts of the 4,032 ever-married women aged 15-49 years. Life table and hazard models are used to understand the cohort effects on the time spend in the effective reproductive span. The cohort effects remain highly significant when controlling for other demographic, social and reproductive attitude characteristics. Sterilization acceptance among younger women explains the compression trends in reproductive spans. Women’s position as mothers is undergoing transition in Andhra Pradesh and they seem to make familial decisions much faster than the older generations did