First published in 1978, this book explores the vital global issue of high and low fertility in poorer countries through a series of case studies by contemporary experts in the fields of development and demography. These studies examine such issues as: the relations between fertility rates and income distributions in poor societies; the question of whether or not neo-classical macro-economics are sufficient to understand and to try to engineer relations between economies and populations; and the specifics of the relations between fertility and a variety of socio-economic factors in both South Asia and West Africa.

The point of the collection is to explain how very far general models can be taken, and to suggest that they cannot be taken as far as those who have tended to ignore the structural complexities of, and differences between, various societies have implied.

1. Introduction 2. The Interaction of Fertility and the Size Distribution of Income 3. Fertility, Mortality and Income - Changes over the Long Run: Some Simulation Experiments 4. Population and Development: Outlines for a Structuralist Approach 5. Modes of Reproduction 6. Parenthood, Marriage and Fertility in West Africa 7. Family Size Preferences of Spouses in Rural Eastern Nigeria 8. Production Relations and Population: Ramdaua 9. Production Relations and Population: Rampur 10. Economic Change, Social Differenciation and Fertility: Aluthgama 11. On Social Norms and Fertility Decline