Friday, May 2, 2008

Education Delays Marriage, Improves Health and Lowers Fertility

In almost every setting—regardless of region, culture, or level of development—better-educated women are more likely:
To marry later, use contraception, bear fewer children and raise healthier children;
To make better decisions for themselves and their children;
To make greater economic contributions to the household.
One of the strongest statistical correlations in developing countries is between mothers’ education and infant mortality: the children of women with more years of schooling are much more likely to survive infancy. Better-educated women are also likely to have a greater say in decisions such as when and whom they marry and to use family planning to bear only the children they can provide for.

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