Fertility differences and rural development in the microregions of the Northeast region in 2010
Rural Fertility Development; Rural Development Index; Northeast; Microregions.
This dissertation sought to analyze rural fertility differentials by levels of rural development in the microregions of the Northeast region in the year of 2010. Specifically, to quantify the concept of rural development, this study was based on the indices of European origin, more precisely the Development Index OECD, already replicated in Brazil to analyze the presence of different levels of rural development. In order to quantify these concepts and the development of a Rural Development Index (RDI), through the selection of population, demographic, economic and social welfare variables, it is possible to analyze the reproductive behavior, expressed by the rates of fertility at different levels of rural development. The database used in the study was the 2010 Demographic Census. The results suggest that the Northeastern region has an IDR = 0.39, a result that is far from the ideal, which would be close to 1. This classifies the region's rural territories, on average, with low rural development. However, by disaggregating the IDR by microregions, it was estimated that almost 48% of the rural population reside in territories classified as medium-level rural development with rural TFR equal to 2.85 children per woman. Among the microregions considered to be of low rural development, only 6.4% had TFR equal to or less than 2.1 children per woman, the highest proportion of microregions in these conditions being classified as having high rural development. The study found that 34% of the microregions studied resulted in a rural TFR of 2.11 to 2.60 children per woman, the highest proportion found, with a significant number of microregions with rural TFR above 3.1 children per woman (32 %).