Child Mortality and the Fertility Transition: Aggregated and Multilevel Evidence from Costa Rica

Abstract

The author explores whether reduced child mortality is needed in order to realize fertility transition by examining empirical evidence from Costa Rica, a developing country which decreased both child mortality and birth rates. Costa Rica's record is examined at the aggregate and individual levels. A strong association between child mortality and fertility is well documented in the literature. The role of child mortality on contemporary fertility transitions is considered, with geographic information system data used to obtain a clear definition of the area within a radius of 5 km in rural areas and 1 km in urban areas from the index household. Focus is given to the adoption of family planning for the first time as the dependent variable. Costa Rican national trends during the century are analyzed, followed by an examination of the role of child mortality upon the fertility transition at the micro- and macro-level. The analysis at each level first explores bivariate associations, then the multivariate associations with the purpose of isolating net effects. The macro-level analysis is based upon data from 89 Costa Rican counties.