Mapping out fertility in South India : Methodology and results

Sébastien Oliveau (1)

1 GC - Géographie-cités

The cartographic analysis of fertility in south India is the theme of this chapter, using the village-level data produced by the 1991 census. The data pertain to 69,700 rural villages, comprising four southern states and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, with a population of 134,571,811. The author has carried out spatial aggregation followed by spatial smoothing. The ratio of the number of children below six years to the female population above six years is a fertility index used to map the fertility transition in south India.
The fertility map illustrates sharply contrasting situations of the level of fertility in south India. Fertility appears negligible along the borders of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, or between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. This is also the case between Tamil Nadu and Kerala (the Ghats) and between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka (borders of the Deccan). Using the same database, the author has also produced other social indicator maps at the village level, such as literacy among men and women and scheduled tribes and makes comparisons with the fertility map.

Mots clés: Fertility; mapping; India; South India

Domaines: Géographie

Sébastien Oliveau. Mapping out fertility in South India : Methodology and results. Guilmoto, C.Z., Rajan, S.I. Fertility transition in South India, SAGE, pp.90-113, 2005. ⟨halshs-00136809⟩