South Carolina Young Adults Count
A comprehensive report on the lives of South Carolinians ages 18 to 29
A comprehensive report on the lives of South Carolinians ages 18 to 29
Fertility rates all across the world tend to be higher for farm families who need more "hands" to do the work. Therefore, fertility is highest for rural farm families and lowest for urban families, with rural non-farm families in-between. This also has been the case in South Carolina, as indicated by an intriguing Table from the 1960 Census:
Number of Children Ever Born to Women in S.C.
| 30-34 | 65+ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| African American & Other | All | African American & Other | All | |
| Urban | 3.0 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 3.5 |
| Rural Non-Farm | 3.8 | 2.9 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| Farm | 4.6 | 3.7 | 5.7 | 5.0 |
| State Total | 3.6 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 4.2 |
Source: 1960 U.S. Census.
Those who had engaged in labor-intensive farming gave birth to significantly higher numbers of children. The 1960 Census data shows that the number of children ever born to 30-34 year olds in S.C. was 2.4 for urban women, 2.9 for rural non-farm women, and 3.7 for farm women. However, for elderly women born before 1900 and growing up when farming or farm roots were almost universal, the number of children ever born was 1 to 1.5 children higher. Since African-Americans historically had been more widely and recently engaged in farming, their fertility rates were one or more children higher, for example 3.6 compared with 2.2 for 30-34 year old White women in 1960. Already in 1960 the typical fertility decline associated with urbanization was very evident, dropping by half from 5.7 for elderly African-Americans on farms and 5.0 for all elderly South Carolinian farm families to 3.0 for urban 30-34 year old African-Americans and 2.4 for all urban 30-34 year old South Carolinians.
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> Family Economics Appendix A