Influencing Factors of Fertility in Developing Countries: Evidence from 16 DHS Data

Objective: This study aims to identify factors that have a substantial impact on the fertility performance of the human population in developing countries. Methods: We have used 16 different countries\u27 demographic and health survey data to complete the study. To address the study objective, binary logistic regression random effect meta-analysis and random effect meta-regression are used. Results: At the end of the analysis, it is found that Odds Ratio (OR) for variable women’s age is 0.06 [0.06; 0.07] for the event high fertility which is least among all other results. OR for education of women and partner be respectively 0.31 [0.25; 0.39] and 0.44 [0.35; 0.56]. OR for age at first marriage was found to be 0.47 [0.40; 0.56] for the event high fertility. On the other hand, per-capita-health-expenditure can explain 57.14% of the total amount of variation for the variable age at first marriage. Additionally, 49.17% of the heterogeneity can be explained by annual population growth for the variable type of place of residence. Conclusion: In a developing country, women\u27s age is the most important factor to explain fertility performance. After women’s age, an increase in education for both partners and women lead to fertility decline. Another unusual factor that influences fertility behavior is the per capita health expenditure of a country. A rise in per capita health expenditure ultimately leads to fertility decline

Spatio-temporal assessment and trend analysis of surface water salinity in the coastal region of Bangladesh

The study was designed to collect water samples over two seasons-wet-monsoon season (n = 96) (March-April) and dry-monsoon season (n = 44) (September October)-to understand the seasonal variation in anion and cation hydrochemistry of the coastal rivers and estuaries contributing in the spatial trend in salinity. Hydrochemical examination of wet-monsoon season primarily revealed Ca-MgHCO3 type (66%) and followed by Na-Cl type (17.70%) water. In the dry-monsoon season, the scenario reversed with primary water being Na-Cl type (52.27%) followed by Ca-Mg-HCO3 type (31.81%). Analysis of Cl/Br molar ratio vs. Cl (mg/L) depicted sampling area affected by seawater intrusion (SWI). Spatial analysis by ordinary kriging method confirmed approximately 77% sample in the dry-monsoon, and 34% of the wet-monsoon season had shown SWI. The most saline-intruded areas in the wet-monsoon seasons were extreme south-west coastal zone of Bangladesh, lower Meghna River floodplain and Meghna estuarine floodplain and southeastern part of Chittagong coastal plains containing the districts of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar adjacent to Bay of Bengal. In addition, mid-south zone is also affected slightly in the dry-monsoon season. From the analyses of data, this study could further help to comprehend seasonal trends in the hydrochemistry and water quality of the coastal and estuarine rivers. In addition, it can help policy makers to obligate some important implications for the future initiatives taken for the management of land, water, fishery, agriculture and environment of coastal rivers and estuaries of Bangladesh