Changes in the Direct and Indirect Determinants of Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa (English)

Document Type

Analytical Studies

Publication Topic(s)

Fertility and Fertility Preferences

Country(s)

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Language

English

Author(s)

Kiersten Johnson, Noureddine Abderrahim and Shea O. Rutstein, ICF Macro, Calverton, Maryland, USA

Publication Date

September 2011

Publication ID

AS23

Abstract:

This report tracks changes in fertility and its determinants in 13 sub-Saharan countries that have had three or more DHS surveys and show at least some evidence of beginning a fertility transition. The countries included are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In some of these countries, notably Namibia, there has been a consistent downward trajectory in the total fertility rate (TFR). In most countries, however, there was little change from approximately 1995-1999 to approxemately 2005-2009, a pattern often described as a "stalled" fertility decline.