In the last decade India has experienced substantial decline in fertility. The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu has been a forerunner in the decline. Its total fertility rate has declined to about 2.3 in 1991-a little above the replacement level. The state has also advanced in other areas of social development. In this paper the family size preferences and fertility behaviour in a village in Tamil Nadu are presented in the context of rapidly changing economy and society.

The material is organized in the following sequence. A discussion of the changing village economy and society is followed by a description of cumulative fertility and differential fertility by social class. Satisfaction with the achieved family size, the demand for additional children and the preferences for ideal and large family sizes are discussed next. The last section deals with the plausible situations that could support the general desire for a large family. It is concluded that the current high fertility is supported by the prevailing socio-economic environment in which fertility decisions are