Ethnicity, Marriage, and Fertility in Kazakhstan

The project aims at understanding how challenges of the post-Soviet transformations in the multi-ethnic nation of Kazakhstan may have affected its residents’ preferences and choices regarding marriage and childbearing. The project utilizes data from the 1995 and 1999 Kazakhstan Demographic and Health Surveys (KDHS) as well as other available relevant data to examine marital and reproductive dynamics, focusing in particular on ethnocultural differences in timing of first marriage, timing of marital births, and recourse to induced abortion. While promising important scientific contributions, the project also constitutes a necessary initial step toward a more comprehensive study of sociodemographic adjustments to dramatic societal changes in post-Soviet Central Asia.

The project is directed by Victor Agadjanian (PI). Jennifer Glick is the co-PI. The project is funded by the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) R03 HD44020. The analyses are currently underway. Information about papers and articles resulting from the project will be posted on this site as they are presented and published.

If you want to learn more about the project, please contact the project Principal Investigator, Dr. Victor Agadjanian.