Cultural Explanation of Fertility Differences in Iran’s Large Cities

• In Event: 231 - Section on Sociology of Population Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Structural, Environmental, and Cultural Factors Affecting Fertility

Abstract

Abstract: Iran’s rapid fertility decline is an interesting phenomenon. A society that in the 1979 Revolution rejected modernization project of its leaders in favor of a theocratic system, after four decades has the fastest drop in fertility indices. There are good amount of research on this matter and majority of them have looked at the material determinants, particularly at the improvement of the indices of life and the success of family planning. But one great aspect of this decline should lay in the changing social attitudes overall. To demonstrate part of the effects ideology on fertility, I will look at the difference of TFRs in cities over one million in Iran and try to show the connection of religious character of city population on its level of fertility.

Author

• Ehsan Farshchi, UC Irvine