ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the remaining direct determinant: fertility control through the use of contraception. The mean number of children ever born to women of specific ages is a useful measure for investigating fertility trends. The Philippine national children ever born data acquire more meaning when projected against international norms. As with the total fertility rates reproduced earlier, the Philippine figures are higher than those of three other Southeast Asian countries at each age level compared. The pattern of demographic transition tends to be an orderly one in which, when fertility rates begin to turn downward, changes are first discerned in the older age groups. Marital fertility rates between regions are much less clearly differentiated than were rates for all women. The data on household income and related characteristics to be presented later document the parallels between fertility and living standards throughout the Philippines.
