The Islamic Republic of Iran has experienced a sustained fertility decline over the
past three decades, with total fertility rates decreasing to below replacement levels. Despite
well-documented literature on the relationship between fertility and women’s education, no
empirical research has compared these trends during the past forty years. The aim of this study
was to investigate the relationship between fertility and women’s education, in the west of Iran.
In an historical longitudinal household survey in 2009, 3443 women who had ever-married were
interviewed. This study focused on women’s fertility over their lifetime, according to education
attainment levels for the period 1954-1993. An inverse relationship was found between age of
marriage and the number ofchildren born by 40 years-of-age (P<0.01). Over the last few decades,
the number of children born has decreased in all levels of mother’s education, furthermore,
the highest level of fertility decline was observed among women with an elementary level of
education. The results of the study showed declining fertility convergence among the various
education levels. Managers and policy makers in addition to encouraging employed women to
have more children should also explore the issues for uneducated women and housewives.