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On the assumption that women will not reduce fertility until the perceived costs of children outweigh the benefits, factors contributing to these assessments are examined among Egyptian women of differing social status and geographic locations using Robinson's model as a guide. Benefits of having additional children can be broadly classified into economic and noneconomic. Economic benefits include direct contribution to family income through future work and support during old age. Noneconomic benefits include social status and a kind of power for the family, pride that comes from signs of fertility and virility, a means of binding the husband closely to the wife, and the joy of having children. Among the financial costs of children are those relating to prenatal care and delivery, food, housing, clothing, education, medical care, and so forth. Noneconomic costs are the time and effort spent in raising children. In general, women form low-income families and rural areas perceived the benefits of large families as greater than others. Working urban mothers and those from high-income families felt the economic and noneconomic costs the most. In order to change the behavior of low-income and rural mothers, the cost-benefit relationship must be perceived differently. This cannot be done solely through family planning programs. However, they can help in enabling the mother to perceive the actual reduction in child mortality, safe ways of using contraceptives, and the ignored costs of large families.