Bongaarts Proximate Determinants
The Bongaarts framework of the proximate determinants of fertility decomposes a population's fertility into a biological maximum reduced by a small set of directly fertility-inhibiting factors: the proportion of women in sexual unions, contraceptive use, induced abortion, and postpartum infecundability. By expressing observed fertility as total fecundity multiplied by four indices between zero and one, it quantifies how much each behavioural and biological channel suppresses fertility below its potential ceiling.
Read the full method
Sign in with a free account to read this section.
Method map
The neighbourhood of related methods — select a node to explore.
Sources
- Bongaarts, J. (1978). A framework for analyzing the proximate determinants of fertility. Population and Development Review, 4(1), 105–132. link ↗
- Preston, S. H., Heuveline, P., & Guillot, M. (2001). Demography: Measuring and Modeling Population Processes. Blackwell. ISBN: 9781557864512
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Bongaarts Framework of the Proximate Determinants of Fertility. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/demography/bongaarts-proximate-determinants
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Mean Age at ChildbearingDemography↔ compare
- Net Reproduction RateDemography↔ compare
- Tempo-Adjusted FertilityDemography↔ compare
- Total Fertility RateDemography↔ compare