IT was once thought that fertility below a level could not be achieved without changes in the material conditions of the people.

The recent decline in fertility in Bangladesh froin a total fertility rate of 6.3 children per women in 1975 to 3.5 in 1995 (MHPC, 1978:73; BBS, 1996) has created interest among researchers, policy makers and academicians.

It has been observed that in the 1960s, the Ig (index of marital fertility) in Sri Lanka for the first time, fell at least ten per cent below the plateau level of the pre-1960 decades [1].

Once effective methods of fertility limitation become widely available within a population, the impact of fertility intentions on subsequent fertility becomes a matter of both theoretical and practical importance.

It is now common practice to infer the social status of women from their demographic characteristics. Yet it is not so easy to read through demographic progress, in terms of declines in mortality and fertility, to make unambiguous judgments about trends in women's social standing.

There is a plethora of information on the analyses of fertility differentials by various socio-economic factors.