Explaining the Ethnic Differentials in Fertility through Ethnic Differences in Socioeconomic Status in Nepal

Inku Subedi, Brown University

This study examines whether fertility differentials among ethnic groups can be explained by the differential socioeconomic status (SES) of these groups using the Nepal DHS 2006 data. This paper improves upon the existing methods of examining the effects of sociodemographic variables on TFRs by calculating TFRs from parity-progression-ratios(PPRs) instead of age-specific-fertility-rates(ASFRs) and by using the complementary-log-log(CLL) discrete-time survival model. The model is effective in capturing time-varying effects of sociodemographic factors in progression of events in women’s life time and allows for both left- and right-censoring while working with period data. Preliminary results show that fertility level of disadvantaged ethnic groups in Nepal could be explained by their socio-economic-status constituting of their residence, education level, and wealth. A step-wise CLL model will be used to analyze the factors behind ethnic differentials in TFRs and trends in this differential in the changing political and social context of Nepal from 1996 to 2006.