Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-dk7s8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T07:24:59.510Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EXPLAINING THE FERTILITY PUZZLE IN SRI LANKA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2015

GAMINIRATNE WIJESEKERE  and
DHARMA ARUNACHALAM
GAMINIRATNE WIJESEKERE
Affiliation:
Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
DHARMA ARUNACHALAM*
Affiliation:
Centre for Population and Urban Research, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
*
1 Corresponding author. Email: dharma.arunachalam@monash.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Fertility transition in Sri Lanka began in the mid-1960s and the declining trend continued over the decades. The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 2000 showed the total fertility rate (TFR) reaching 1.9 births per woman, a level below replacement fertility. The next DHS of 2006/7 showed a TFR of 2.3. Some have interpreted this pattern as indicating a reversal of the fertility transition. This paper casts doubts on the below-replacement fertility revealed in the 2000 survey.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 47 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 845 - 852
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abeykoon, A. L. T. P. (2006) Fertility transition in Sri Lanka: the determinants and consequences. Paper presented to the UNESCAP Seminar on Fertility Transition in Asia: Opportunities and Challenges, 18–20th December 2006.Google Scholar
Bongaarts, J. (1978) A framework for analyzing the proximate determinants of fertility. Population and Development Review 4, 105–131.Google Scholar
Caldwell, J. C., Gaminiratne, K. H. W., Caldwell, P., De Silva, S., Caldwell, B., Weeraratna, N. & Silva, P. (1987) The role of traditional methods of fertility control in Sri Lanka. Studies in Family Planning 18(1), 1–21.Google Scholar
Department of Census and Statistics (1995) Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey, 1993. Department of Census and Statistics and Ministry of Health, Highways and Social Services, Colombo, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
Department of Census and Statistics (2002) Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey 2000. Department of Census and Statistics and Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Welfare, Colombo, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
Department of Census and Statistics (2009) Sri Lanka Demographic and Health Survey 2006–07. Department of Census and Statistics and Health Sector Development Project, Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition, Colombo, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
De Silva, W. I. (1994) Ahead of target: achievement of replacement level fertility in Sri Lanka before the year 2000. Asia-Pacific Population Journal 9(4), 3–22.Google Scholar
De Silva, W. I. (2001) A Population Projection of Sri Lanka: For the New Millennium, 2001–2101: Trends and Implications. Institute for Health Policy, Colombo.Google Scholar
De Silva, W. I., Dayananda, R. A. & Perera, N. W. P. D. B. N. (2006) Contraceptive behaviour of abortion seekers in Sri Lanka. Asian Population Studies 2(1), 3–18.Google Scholar
De Silva, W. I., Perera, B. N. & Anuranga, K. C. (2010) Below to above replacement: dramatic increase in fertility and its determinants in Sri Lanka. Asia Pacific Population Journal 25(2), 27–52.Google Scholar
Gendell, M. (1984) Stalls in the fertility decline in Costa Rica, Korea and Sri Lanka. World Bank Staff Working Paper No. 693; Population and Development Series No. 18, Washington.Google Scholar
Langford, C. (2001) Fertility decline in Sri Lanka: could fertility now be at about replacement level? In Sathar, Z. & Phillips, J. (eds) Fertility Transition in South Asia. International Studies in Demography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 121–134.Google Scholar
Ratnayake, K., Retherford, R. D. & Sivasubramanium, S. (1984) Fertility Estimates for Sri Lanka Derived from the 1981 Census. Aitken Spence & Co., Colombo.Google Scholar
Ross, J. A. & Frankenberg, E. (1993) Findings from Two Decades of Family Planning Research. Population Council. New York.Google Scholar
Wright, N. H. (1968) Recent fertility changes in Ceylon and prospect for the national family planning program. Demography 5(2), 745–756.Google Scholar