The Timing of the Fertility Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa

2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1835-1843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Garenne ◽  
Veronique Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Fertility Transition ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan

The Role of Public Population Institutions on Fertility Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. May
Keyword(s):  
Fertility Decline ◽  
Fertility Transition ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Demographic Dividend ◽  
The Public ◽  
Population Policies ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract The UN Population Division currently projects the population of Sub-Saharan Africa will reach 4 billion by the end of this century, unless we see a sharp decline in the region’s fertility rates. Although the region has embarked on its demographic transition, this process is occurring at a slower rate than in the rest of the developing world and seems to be stalling in several countries. The economic benefits that would follow from an acceleration of the fertility decline are now widely recognized but the SSA leadership is only slowly changing its attitude towards population issues. This paper’s discussion of SSA population growth focuses on fertility, and the identification of factors that may lead to fertility decline, with particular attention to the direct influence of public institutions. These are the public institutions dealing with family planning programs or those designed to prepare and implement population policies and/or monitor the demographic dividend. Reviewing the experience of these institutions in the SSA context allows us to suggest ways to strengthen them with the view of accelerating the fertility transition in the region, opening a demographic window of opportunity, and capturing a first demographic dividend.

scholarly journals How education mitigates the realisation of fertility intentions: Is sub-Saharan Africa different?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Channon ◽  
SARAH HARPER
Keyword(s):  
Educational Achievement ◽  
Fertility Transition ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Fertility Intentions ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Individual

The gap between achieved fertility and fertility ideals is notably higher in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) than elsewhere, relating to both under- and overachievement of fertility ideals. We consider the extent to which the relationship between fertility ideals and achieved fertility is mitigated by educational achievement. Further, we consider if the effect of education acts differently in SSA, and thereby hypothesise how increasing levels of education in SSA may decrease fertility.We use 227 Demographic and Health Surveys from 57 countries worldwide to look at population- and individual-level measures of achieving fertility ideals. Population level measures are used to assess whether the correspondence between fertility intentions and achievements differ by level of education. We then look at the individual-level determinants of both under- and overachieving fertility intentions. An average of 40% of women in SSA underachieve their stated fertility intentions compared to 26% in non-SSA countries. Furthermore, the educational gradient of underachievement is different in SSA where higher levels of education are not related to better correspondence between fertility intentions and achievements. We argue that the phenomenon of underachieving fertility ideals (or unrealized fertility) may be of particular importance for the ongoing fertility transition throughout SSA, especially for highly educated groups.

Future Fertility in High Fertility Countries

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Fuchs ◽  
Anne Goujon
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Fertility Transition ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
High Fertility ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan

Beginning in 1960, a phenomenon occurred that John Caldwell named the ‘global fertility transition’ (Caldwell, 1997), in which fertility declines have become the general rule throughout the world, including in the majority of the less developed countries. This is important partly because fertility is in many circumstances negatively associated with socio-economic development (Bryant, 2007). From 1970–75 to 2005–10, the average total fertility rate (TFR) for the developing world fell by half, from 5.4 to 2.7 births per woman on average (United Nations, 2011). However, global figures hide important differences in fertility levels among the different regions. In Asia and Latin America, the reproductive behaviour of women reflected the pattern of change noted by Caldwell, halving the TFR in the last 35 years. In Africa, on the contrary, fertility stagnated at 6.2–6.4 from 1950 to 1985, and then began a decline that was much slower than in other developing regions. As a whole, the TFR of sub-Saharan Africa has, for decades, been higher than the fertility levels elsewhere. This was the case in 1950 and 1975, and remains so today. Fertility differences among countries are now larger than ever because transitions to replacement fertility have not yet started in some subpopulations of Western and Middle Africa, but have already been completed in others (e.g. in the economically most advanced countries of Asia, especially East Asia, as well as in many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean). As a result, the observed TFRs of (former) developing countries in 2005–10 range from a high of 7.1 in Niger to a low of 1.0 in Hong Kong. All regions of the world experience wide variations in their TFRs. For instance, East Asia has experienced a faster fertility decline than countries like Pakistan in south-central Asia. Moreover, fertility levels can show significant variations within a single country. This is the case in India, where Northern and Southern patterns of fertility are very different. Overall, regional variations are most apparent in sub-Saharan Africa.

ENDURING ECONOMIC HARDSHIP, WOMEN'S EDUCATION, MARRIAGE AND FERTILITY TRANSITION IN KINSHASA

2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID SHAPIRO
Keyword(s):  
Women's Education ◽  
Fertility Transition ◽  
Economic Hardship ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Secondary Schooling ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The City

SummaryThis paper examines fertility transition in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and second-largest city in sub-Saharan Africa. Shapiro (1996) documented the onset of fertility transition in the city, using data from 1990. Women's education was strongly inversely related to fertility, beginning with secondary schooling, and increases in women's education were important in initiating fertility transition in the city. The paper uses data from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey in the DRC to examine fertility in Kinshasa and assess fertility transition since 1990, a period characterized by severe adverse economic conditions in the DRC. Fertility transition has continued at a strong pace. In part this reflects increased educational attainment of women, but it appears also to be largely a consequence of enduring economic hardship. The ongoing fertility decline has been accompanied by substantial delays in entry to marriage and childbearing, reflecting adverse economic conditions, which in turn have contributed to continuing declines in fertility.

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