Since the early 1980s, much time and effort has been expended in trying to understand the relative contributions of different social factors in mortality decline (especially declines in infant and child mortality) and in reductions in fertility. In these debates, the schooling level (number of years attended) of a young mother has often been portrayed as the single most powerful correlate of reductions in the infant and child mortality of her children, and (to a lesser but still very considerable degree) to reduction in her completed family size. These correlations have been observed in almost every country and region at.
