ABSTRACT
This chapter is based upon the direct observations of births to the defined population of resident women over an 11-year period. It focuses on the most fertile women, during the 1963–1973 period. The direct observations include a total of 1434 person-years over the 11-year period, to a total of 166 women. The level of fertility achieved by fertile women is determined by the, the birth interval. To examine the pattern of birth intervals as a feature of the mother's reproductive ability, the chapter looks only at the woman's experience in the months following her first birth. When it considers the role of the length of birth intervals in producing the level of fertility for the population as a whole, the chapter broadens attention from only the first interval for each woman to all intervals. There are many questions yet to be explored, for example, rates of entrance and exit from the childbearing state, causes of infertility , and the role of marriage in fertility.
