Modernization and fertility inhibiting strategies of socieconomic and cultural groups in Turkey

Mehmet Ali Eryurt, Hacettepe University

In this study fertility inhibiting strategies of socioeconomic and cultural groups will be disscussed in the framework of modernization debates. Within last 4 decades TFR has declined from 7 to a value near to replacement value. The results of TDHS-2003 indicates that TFR of Turkey is 2.2 that is slightly above the replacement level. The fertility decline that took place in Turkey was striking, although fertility decline was not uniform and simultaneous throuhout the country. The onset and pace of fertility decline has been different among various socio-economic and cultural groups. Consequently, socio-economic and cultural groups are at different stages of fertility transition. The subject of this study is to investigate current fertility levels of these socio-economic and cultural groups and their strategies to decline their fertility to those levels. While determining the strategies of these groups to decline their fertility, proximate determinants model of John Bongaarts will be employed. 1998 and 2003 DHS data were used in the study. A structure-culture dichotomy can be easily observed within theorethical literature on fertility decline. To test the validity of this dichotomy variables were collected under two main topics as socioeconomic variables and cultural variables. At the end of the study, socio-economic and cultural groups were categorized into three main groups according to their total fertility rates. First category includes groups at the vanguard of fertility decline which are reduced their fertility below replacement level. Groups having TFRs between 2,1 and 3 were collected in the second category and the third category includes groups having TFRs higher than 3. The effect of proximate determinants, such as marriage, contraceptive use, induced abortion and postpartum infecundability, on fertility decline were evaluated for these three broad groups.