Title: [An example of very low natural fertility: the Marquesas Islands (1886-1945)]
Abstract: The Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia had a very low natural fertility in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In these years the population declined by 2-3% annually due partly tolow fertility but primarily to very high mortality rates. Application of the methods of historical demography to the population of the Marquesas was made difficult by marriage patterns in that non-Western population. Marriage seldom marked the beginning of conjugal life. Families and geneologies had to be reconstituted in order to create a population register. The reconstitution was relatively easy due to the good civil registration system in the island and the relative absence of emigration prior to 1935. The very low rate of infant mortality calculated according to the register however indicates substantial underregistration of births followed rapidly by deaths. Infant mortality rates were corrected to the appropriate levels of the Princeton model life tables. Unions were identified by marriage or by births in which the father was declared in 80% of cases. The dates of the beginning and ends of unions were imprecise however as was the union status of infertile women. Marriage by age 50 was almost universal. The average age at 1st union was 20.9 for women born in 1871-75 18.7 for those born in 1886-90 and 17.9 for those born in 1901-05. About 1/3 of women had more than 1 partner before age 40 with death of the partner the main cause of termination of unions. Fertility was very low for women born before 1885 among whom fertility of those under 30 was scarcely higher than for women over 30. For the generation born after 1885 the rate before age 30 increased progressively over the years. The total fertility rate after correction for underregistration was 2.5 for women born in 1866-75 and 4.0 for those born in 1876-85. Family size increased thereafter and the total fertility rate reached 6.01 for women born in 1896-1900 a level closer to the usual natural fertility regime. Rates of 1st order births were very low in the oldest cohorts studied. Women born in 1876-85 had an average after correction of .75 1st order births and those born in 1886-90 had .80 on average. Calculation of fertility rates for fertile women only indicates that the low fertility was primarily due to the existence of a large proportion of sterile women who lowered fertility rates overall by 40% in the oldest cohorts. Parity progression ratios a1 to a3 were lower than in 18th century France and fertility of once-fertile women was lower due to physiological causes and rupture of unions. Widespread venereal disease was the main cause of sterility.
Publication Year: 1988
Publication Date: 1988-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot