No abstract

No abstract

This paper discusses polygynous marriages in rural Bangladesh, using marital status and birth registration data from the Demographic Surveillance System of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, for the period 1975-79. Of all the marriages recorded during this period about 5% were polygynous. To identify the women polygynously married, 1974 census data of the DSS area were used. The difference in age at marriage between the polygynous groom and his subsequent wife was 15 years on average. The socioeconomic indicators studied were education, occupation and area of dwelling space. In general, these indicators differentially influence polygynous marriage. The fertility differentials between women in monogamous marriages were significantly higher than between the women in polygynous unions.

SummaryUsing a unique set of birth registration data from the Demographic Surveillance System of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, for the period 1974–77, and socioeconomic information collected in the 1974 census, fertility was studied in relation to occupation, size of dwelling, number of cows and number of boats owned. The total fertility rate was found to vary between 6 and 6·5 except in the famine year of 1975. There was no consistent relationship between fertility and education of women. Fertility differentials by occupation showed that the household heads who were farm labourers had relatively lower fertility compared to other occupational groups, except for the year 1977 where the families of service holders were found to have relatively lower fertility. There was a consistent direct relationship between the dwelling size and fertility for each of the years.

This paper examines the effects of age at marriage and differential mortality of males and females on the incidence of widowhood between the sexes. Abridged life tables constructed from marital status and death registration data of a rural area of Bangladesh for the period 1974-79 were used. The difference in life expectancy between males and females varies from 0-4 to 2-2 years at the ages 0 to 65 years and over. The mortality differentials show that the probabilities of a male or a female surviving the other spouse would be approximately the same, were there no other influence. But the incidence of widows is about ten times that of widowers. Other relevant factors, under a given regime of mortality, are age at marriage and age difference between husband and wife.