In this article we analyze two aspects of female fertility using unit record data from South Africa. We examine the effect of individual, household, and community characteristics on the age at first conception and the number of pregnancies for a national sample of women. The segmented nature of the economy of South Africa allows us to study differences in fertility patterns among the different socioeconomic classes and across the different races.1 While much has been said about fertility behavior of women in sub-Saharan Africa, an analysis of the fertility patterns of South African women is significantly absent.2 In this article we attempt to fill this gap in the literature.