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Women’s education and desire for additional children in Vietnam: regional differences and the role of son preference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2021

Yen Thi Hai Nguyen Open the ORCID record for Yen Thi Hai Nguyen [Opens in a new window]  and
Pataporn Sukontamarn Open the ORCID record for Pataporn Sukontamarn [Opens in a new window]
Yen Thi Hai Nguyen
Affiliation:
College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Pataporn Sukontamarn*
Affiliation:
College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
*
*Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between women’s education and desire for additional children across the six economic regions of Vietnam. The study employed data from the nationally representative Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2014. Probit regression results showed that for women with one child, higher levels of education were associated with higher fertility desire in two out of six regions. Similar results were found for women with two or more children. Children’s sex composition played a role in the desire for additional children, reflecting both son preference and mixed-gender preference. In Vietnam overall, among women with at least one boy, those with lower levels of education were more likely not to want another child. The results, however, differed by region. The findings suggest that the social and economic context of each region, particularly sex ratio at birth and total fertility rate, should be taken into account when designing population policies in Vietnam.

Keywords

Women’s educationdesire for additional childrenson preferenceVietnam
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 54 , Issue 6 , November 2022 , pp. 1047 - 1066
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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