Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-15T11:21:39.838Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN SHAPING AFRICAN FERTILITY PATTERN: EVIDENCE FROM DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEYS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

Clifford Odimegwu  and
Sunday A. Adedini
Clifford Odimegwu*
Affiliation:
Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sunday A. Adedini
Affiliation:
Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Demography and Social Statistics Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
*
1Corresponding author. Email: Clifford.Odimegwu@wits.ac.za
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Anthropological explanations of demographic outcomes have emphasized the need to understand how community structures contribute to those outcomes. However, studies on fertility dynamics in Africa have largely focused on micro-level factors, thus ignoring the influence of community contexts. Using the most recent Demographic and Health Survey data from Egypt (Northern Africa), Cameroon (Middle Africa), Kenya (Eastern Africa), Nigeria (Western Africa) and Zimbabwe (Southern Africa), the study employed multilevel Poisson regression models to examine the influence of community factors on African fertility levels and patterns. The number of sampled women (aged 15–44) ranged from 7774 in Kenya (2008–09) to 30,480 in Nigeria (2008). The findings demonstrate some significant community effects on African fertility patterns, even after controlling for a number of individual-level factors. For instance, residence in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions, rural settings, poor neighbourhood and communities with high family size norm were found to be associated with higher fertility levels in the selected countries. The emerging African fertility patterns require the need to go beyond addressing individual-level characteristics in the efforts to reduce fertility levels in Africa.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 49 , Special Issue S1: Low Fertility in Developing Countries: Causes and Implications , November 2017 , pp. S46 - S61
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abderrahim, J. K. N. & Rutstein, S. O. (2011) Changes in the Direct and Indirect Determinants of Fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa . ICF Macro, MEASURE DHS, Calverton, MD.Google Scholar
Adedini, S. A., Odimegwu, C., Imasiku, E. N. & Ononokpono, D. N. (2015) Ethnic differentials in under-five mortality in Nigeria. Ethnicity & Health 20(2), 145–162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adedini, S. A., Odimegwu, C., Imasiku, E. N. S., Ononokpono, D. N. & Ibisomi, L. (2014) Regional variations in infant and child mortality in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis. Journal of Biosocial Science 47(2), 165–187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antai, D. (2009) Inequitable childhood immunization uptake in Nigeria: a multilevel analysis of individual and contextual determinants. BMC Infectious Diseases 9, 181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antai, D. (2011) Regional inequalities in under-5 mortality in Nigeria: a population-based analysis of individual- and community-level determinants. Population Health Metrics 9(6), 1–27.Google Scholar
Benefo, K. D. (2012) The community-level effects of women’s education on reproductive behaviour in rural Ghana. Demographic Research 14, 485–508.Google Scholar
Billy, J. O. & Moore, D. E. (1992) A multilevel analysis of marital and non-marital fertility in the USA. Social Forces 70(4), 977–1011.Google Scholar
Bilsborrow, R. E. & Guilkey, D. K. (1987) Community and Institutional Influence on Fertility: Analytical Issues. World Employment Programme Research Population and Labour Policies Programme Working Paper No. 157, International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Boco, A. G. (2010) Individual and Community Level Effects on Child Mortality: An Analysis of 28 Demographic and Health Surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa. ICF Macro, Calverton, MD.Google Scholar
Casterline, J. B. (1985) The Collection and Analysis of Community Data: WFS Seminar on Collection and Analysis of Data on Community and Institutional Factors, 20–23 June 1983. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg, the Netherlands.Google Scholar
Casterline, J. B. (1987) The collection and analysis of community data. In Cleland, J. & Scott, C. (eds) The World Fertility Survey: An Assessment. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Colleran, H., Jasienska, G., Nenko, I., Galbarczyk, A. & Mace, R. (2014) Community-level education accelerates the cultural evolution of fertility decline. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B 281(1779), 20132732. URL: dx.do1.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0152.Google Scholar
Davis, K. & Blake, J. (1986) Social structure and fertility: an analytical framework. Economic Development and Cultural Change 4(3), 211–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casterline, J. B., Entwisle, B. & Sayed, H. A. A. (1988) Villages as contexts for contraceptive behaviour in rural Egypt. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, New Orleans, 1988.Google Scholar
Ezeh, A. C., Mberu, B. U. & Emina, J. O. (2009a) Stall in fertility decline in Eastern African countries: regional analysis of patterns, determinants and implications. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 364, 2991–3007.Google Scholar
Ezeh, A. C., Mberu, B. U. & Emina, J. O. (2009b) Stall in fertility decline in Eastern African countries: regional analysis of patterns, determinants and implications. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series B 364(1532), 2991–3007.Google Scholar
Garenne, M. (2008) Situations of fertility stall in sub-Saharan Africa. African Population Studies 23(2).Google Scholar
Garenne, M. & Veronique, J. (2003) The timing of the fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa. World Development 30(10), 1835–1843.Google Scholar
Guilkey, D. K. & Jayne, S. (1997) Fertility transition in Zimbabwe: determinants of contraceptive use and method choice. Population Studies 51(2), 173–189.Google Scholar
Harttgen, K. & Misselhorn, M. (2006) A multilevel approach to explain child mortality and undernutrition in South Asia and sub-Saharan. Discussion Paper No. 152 , Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research, Vol. 156, pp. 1–38.Google Scholar
Hirschman, C. & Guest, P. (1990) Multilevel models of fertility determination in four Southeast Asian countries: 1970 and 1980. Demography 27(3), 369–396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirschman, C., Tan, J., Chamratrithirong, A. & Guest, P. (1994) The path to below replacement-level fertility in Thailand. International Family Planning Perspectives 20(3), 82–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, C. & Young, Y-J. (2000) Social context and fertility decline in Southeast Asia: 1968–70 to 1988–90. Population and Development Review 26, 11–39.Google Scholar
Imasiku, E. N. S., Odimegwu, C., Adedini, S. A. & Ononokpono, D. N. (2013) Variations in unmet need for contraception in Zambia: does ethnicity play a role? Journal of Biosocial Science 46(3), 294–315.Google Scholar
Izugbara, C. O. & Ezeh, A. C. (2010) Women and high fertility in Islamic northern Nigeria. Studies in Family Planning 41(3), 193–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kravdal, Ø. (2004) Child mortality in India: the community-level effect of education. Population Studies 58(2), 177–192.Google Scholar
Kravdal, Ø. (2012) Further evidence of community education effects on fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. Demographic Research 27, 645–680.Google Scholar
Machiyama, K. (2010) A re-examination of recent fertility declines in sub-Saharan Africa. DHS Working Papers No. 68. ICF Macro, Calverton, MD.Google Scholar
Odimegwu, C. & Adedini, S. A. (2014) Gender dynamics and fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa. Gender and Behaviour 12(4), 5964–5983.Google Scholar
Odimegwu, C. & Kekovole, J. (2014) Continuity and Change in Sub-Saharan African Demography: A Collection of Essays. Routledge, Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Odimegwu, C., Pallikadavath, S. & Adedini, S. (2013) The cost of being a man: social and health consequences of Igbo masculinity. Culture, Health & Sexuality 15(2), 219–234.Google Scholar
Omariba, D. W. R. & Boyle, M. H. (2007) Family structure and child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa: cross-national effects of polygyny. Journal of Marriage and Family 69, 528–543.Google Scholar
Ononokpono, D. N., Odimegwu, C. O., Imasiku, E. N. S. & Adedini, S. A. (2013) Contextual determinants of maternal health care service utilization in Nigeria. Women & Health 53(7), 647–668.Google Scholar
Poston, D. L. & Bouvier, L. F. (2010) Population and Society: An Introduction to Demography. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, G. (2007) Poisson Models for Count Data. URL: http://data.princeton.edu (accessed 25th June 2016).Google Scholar
Schoumaker, B. (2009) Stalls and Reversals in Fertility Transitions in sub-Saharan Africa: Real or Spurious? Working Document, SPED, Universite Catholque de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve.Google Scholar
Schultz, T. P. (1974) The Economics of Marriage and Family. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Shapiro, D. & Gebreselassie, T. (2008) Falling and stalling fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. Paper presented at the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population International Seminar on Human Fertility in Africa, Cape Coast, Ghana, 2008.Google Scholar
Smith, H. L. (1989) Integrating theory and research on the institutional determinants of fertility. Demography 26(2), 171–184.Google Scholar
Tienda, M. (1984) Community characteristics, women education, and fertility in Peru. Studies in Family Planning 15(4), 162–169.Google Scholar
Weeks, J. R. (2005) Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues. 9th Edition. Wadsworth, USA.Google Scholar