DETERMINANTS OF RACIAL FERTILITY DIFFERENTIALS IN SOME URBAN AREAS OFSOUTH-AFRICA

Results of a survey of some urban areas in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand- Vereenining region show differential impacts of proximate and socioeco nomic factors on the fertility of urban blacks and whites. Timing of s tarting and ending of childbearing and the reproductive behaviour of w omen who have never been married account for the major differences in fertility levels. White women confine their childbearing career to the 20-39 age range, while black women utilise the entire 15-49 age range . The fertility level is quite high among black women who have never b een married (in contrast to never married white women). With the excep tion of breast-feeding, racial patterns in other proximate determinant s of fertility do not suggest the observed racial differentials in fer tility.