[01] Iqramul Haq, Department of Statistics, Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, fertility is still high than the replacement levels according to the study released by BDHS 2014. This paper examines the association between age at marriage, education and fertility among urban and rural women of Bangladesh, using the 2014 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data. The One way ANOVA test is applied to assess the differences between children ever born and women's age at marriage, education status of women in both areas of Bangladesh. Pearson correlation was used to assess the degree and nature of the relationship between fertility and age at marriage, education status of women in both areas of Bangladesh. To know the net effect of each of covariates, a popular a multiple regression model was considered. From finding of the study indicate that average number of children ever born in the rural areas is comparatively higher than the urban areas of Bangladesh. Early marriage is very common especially in rural areas of Bangladesh. The estimated results showed that an increase in age at marriage significantly reduced the total fertility of women in both areas of Bangladesh. Again the analyses showed negative association between mean fertility and educational level of the respondents. Government should accord on women education especially in rural areas of Bangladesh and strongly prohibited early marriage in both areas of Bangladesh.

Reproductive Performance, Child Marriage, Children Ever Born, ANOVA, Women Education Status

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