The impact of husband's and wife's education and occupation on family size in Zimbabwe

This paper assesses the impact of husband's and wife's education and occupation on family size in Zimbabwe. Results from the 1988 Male Fertility Survey indicate that husband's education had a strong negative effect, and wife's education had a moderate negative effect on the number of children ever born. Contrary to the literature, wives who were not employed had significantly fewer children than those who work in agriculture, and fewer, but not significantly, than those in non-agricultural occupations. Findings show the importance of husband's education and the changing dynamics of wife's occupation in fertility decline.