ABSTRACT
Most of the variations in fertility which we can observe between different populations can be understood by looking at a relatively small number of intermediate factors. This chapter will be devoted to describing the effect of these factors. Demographers sometimes call them the proximate determinants of fertility. The model of the determinants of fertility that is used most often by demographers states that fertility is determined ultimately by social, economic and cultural factors, but that these operate through a number of intermediate factors, or proximate determinants of fertility (Davis and Blake, 1956; Bongaarts, 1978).
