Mortality and Fertility Interactions: New Insights from Recent Population Dynamics in Cambodia

Patrick Heuveline, University of Chicago

This paper analyzes fertility trends in the years following the Khmers Rouges' regime and the associated mortality crisis in Cambodia (1975-1979). Reviews of demographic responses to exogenous shocks in historical populations suggest that post-crisis fertility rebounds are not uncommon, but typically driven by marital fertility surges due to the increase in the number of susceptible women that follows the crisis' conception dearth. Some features of the post-Khmer-Rouge baby boom do not seem to fit this standard explanation. Data collected specifically to allow for more detailed analyses of the components of that baby boom reveal that married couples had, throughout the 1980s, higher fertility rates and more diverse marriage patterns than before 1975. Hence, these results support the claim that the survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime engaged in "proceptive" behaviors at two levels at least: the marital unit itself and the extended family typically involved in marriage arrangements.