A comparison of regional variations of fertility in Bangladesh.

This study, based on the 2004 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), examines the extent to which regional variations of reproductive behavior are explained by inherent demographic, socioeconomic, and programmatic differences among regions. This article also attempts to investigate the impact of four intermediate fertility variables; namely marriage, contraception, lactational infecundability, and induced abortion, on fertility among different regions in Bangladesh. The contribution of proximate variables was observed through the decomposition of the total fertility rate (TFR) into proximate components. The results indicate that contraception is the highest fertility reducing factor in all the regions.