Using data derived from the 1989 Bangladesh Fertility Survey and the 1999–2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, this article investigates the impact of four intermediate fertility variables—namely marriage, contraception, lactational infecundability, and induced abortion—on fertility in Bangladesh. The contribution of each proximate variable was observed through the decomposition of the total fertility rate (TFR) into proximate components. Contraception is seen to be the most prominent determinant in lowering the total fertility rate (from 5.1 to 3.3 or about 38.5%) between 1989 and 2000.
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