The main objectives of the present study are to determine thernlevel of fertility on the one hand, and to examine the extent ofrnthe relationships between some selected socio-economic factorsrnand fertility on the other, in Shewa region of Ethiopia. To thisrnend, a 5 per cent stratified simple random sample of women agedrn15 to 49 years is drawn from the 1984 population and HousingrnCensus of Shewa region. The sample consists of all the relevantrnsocio-economic and demographic information of 80528 eligiblernwomen.rnIn the thesis, the sampling design is discussed, the reportedrnage and fertility data are evaluated, the relationships betweenrnand socio-economic factors and fertility are examined; and thernIrnrelative importance of each of the soc io-economic variablesrnconsidered are determined. Also summary of the main findings andrntheir policy implications are presented.rnThe evaluation indicates that the fertility data are subject tornunder-reporting/omission of births and hence the Brass P/F ratiornmethod and the relational Gompertz model are employed to adjustrnthe reported fertility estimates. The new fertility estimat esrnare appraised and show that the level of fertility in s hewa asrnwell as in its urban and rural areas is quite high. According tornthese estimates , women in total and rural shewa bear, on thernaverage, more than 7 children before the end of theirrnreproductive period (i.e 45-49 years); while the correspondingrnfigure in urban areas is about 6.5. In order to examine the relationships between socio-economicrnfactors and fertility in the region, three procedures:rnunivariate, bivariate and multivariate ana lyses are adopted. Inrnall the procedures the mean number of children ever-born is usedrnas a dependent variable and the socio-economic factors asrnindependent variables . On the whole, the findings indicate arnnegative r es idence and fertility;rneducationrnrelationship between urbanrnand fertility; economic activity (occupation) andrnfertility; and a positive relationship between duration ofrncontinuous residence of migrants and fertil i ty . The findingsrna l so suggest fertil ity differentials by migration status , maritalrnstatus , province of residence, religion and ethnic ity . It is ,rnhowever, observed in the multivariat e analysis that, when therneffects of the specified variables are held constant, the rangernin ferti lity differentials is reduced. This, therefore , suggestsrnthat much of the fertility differentials could be accounted forrnby differences in the socio-economic and demographicrnc haracteristics of the women under study . The analysis furtherrnreveals that among the s elected predictor variables , maritalrnstatus, province of r esidence , migration and ethnicity are thernmost important factors accounting for the greatest proportion ofrnthe variance in fertility. Education, occupation , urban/ ruralrnresidence and religion are also important but to a lesser extent.rnFinally, the policy implications of the findings are discussedrnand recommendations for immediate intervention are forwarded.rnMoreover, a detailed study of the relationships between social ,rneconomic, cultural and demographic factors and fertility inrnEthiopia is recommended .