The Impact of Conflict on Age at Marriage and Childbirth in Rwanda (English)

Document Type

Working Papers

Country(s)

Rwanda

Language

English

Author(s)

Anuja Jayaraman and Tesfayi Gebreselassie and S. Chandrasekhar and Macro International Inc. Calverton, Maryland, USA

Publication Date

November 2007

Publication ID

WP37

Abstract:

Using Rwanda Demographic Health Survey 2005 data, we estimate a Cox proportional hazard model to identify the determinants of age at marriage and age at first child and whether these decisions were affected by conflict. We find that women living in clusters accounting for a larger proportion of sibling deaths in 1994, the year of the genocide, were more likely to marry later and have children later compared with those living in clusters accounting for a lower proportion of sibling deaths. Women living in regions with higher levels of under-five mortality were more likely to have their first child earlier compared with women living in regions with lower infant mortality. The age at marriage was probably affected by two reasons: the change in age structure and sex ratio of population following the genocide, and the breakdown of kinship in the case of women who lost their siblings.