Abstract
Though the South Indian slate of Andhra Pradesh is
experiencing transition to replacement level, notable fertility
differentials persist between the caste groups. Fertility has been
much higher among scheduled caste and scheduled tribes compared
to other caste groups. This paper examines the fertility differentials
among caste groups in the context of characteristics and interaction
hypotheses, using the second Indian National Family Health Survey
data. The results of multiple classification analysis on cumulative
fertility and proportional hazard analysis on birth intervals show that
differentials between caste groups persist even after controlling for
the other socioeconomic and demographic variables. Further, the
analysis of interaction effects show that the caste effect is not
constant across the levels of other socioeconomic factors. In rural
areas and at the lower levels of education and standard of living,
fertility is relatively high and scheduled castes and tribes have
higher fertility than ?other? caste. But this situation is reversed
completely in urban areas and at the higher levels of socioeconomic
status, where the level of fertility is not only low hut also scheduled
castes and tribes have lower fertility than ?other? castes. This
indicates with the improvement of socioeconomic status, not only
will fertility decline, but also the difference in fertility between caste
groups will disappear.
