This research studied a sample group of 2,418 married women of
reproductive age of 15-49 from the Thai, Burmese, Mon, and Karen ethnic groups
who resided in highland areas of Kanchanaburi province. The purpose of this study
was 1) To study the pattern and the level of fertility of highland women of different
ethnic groups and; 2) To study factors which identify the fertility of each ethnic
group, by using secondary data from the 4th Kanchanaburi Population
Demographic Surveillance System in 2003 conducted by the Institute for
Population and Social Research (IPSR), Mahidol University.
Research results showed that highland women were Thai (60 percent),
Burmese (7.9 percent), Mon (12.4 percent) and Karen (19.6 percent). The majority
of them was in the age group of 30-39 and most had their first marriages at the age
of 18. Family structure was a nuclear family rather than an extended family. Twothirds
of the Burmese, Mon, and Karen women were uneducated. The majority of
them worked in agriculture with a low economic status. Of those who owned land,
the average size of landownership was approximately 30 Rai. Moreover, 86.2
percent used to have contraception and the first birth control method used was
contraceptive pills. Each ethnicity had a similar pattern of age-specific fertility rate
in which the highest rate occurred between 20 and 24 years old and would
gradually decline afterwards. However, Thai and Burmese women had lower agespecific
fertility rate and the age-specific fertility rate ended earlier compared to
Mon and Karen women. Average fertility of highland women was 3.44. Thai
women had the lowest level of 3.00, followed by Mon women (3.19), Burmese
women (3.75) and Karen women (4.80). After conducting multiple regression
analysis, it was found that important factors affecting fertility level of highland
women in Kanchanaburi were ethnicity, age, age at first marriage, number of infant
mortalities and stillbirths. On the other hand, social factors and economic factors
rarely had an effect on fertility.
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