Fertility Differentials among Religious Minorities: Cross-national and Regional Evidence from India and Bangladesh

The article examines the independent effect of religious minority status on fertility at two levels i.e. cross-country level of India and Bangladesh and intra-country level (district) of India. Demographic and health survey data from India (20052006) and Bangladesh (20062007) are used for the cross-country comparison and the census of India (2001) for the intra-country comparison. Minority status is operationalised first as an interaction between country and religion, and second through a religion-based concentration index. This article finds empirical support for the independent effect of religious minority status on fertility at the cross-country (India and Bangladesh) and intra-country (districts of India) level. This article contends that high fertility among religious minorities is a result of vulnerability due to socio-economic disadvantageous position of minorities in India and Bangladesh. Copyright (c) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd