The Impact of Women's Schooling on Fertility and Contraceptive Use: A Study of Fourteen Sub-Saharan African Countries

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between female schooling and two behaviors-cumulative fertility and contraceptive use-in fourteen Sub-Saharan African countries where Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) have been conducted since the mid-1980s. Average levels of schooling among women of reproductive age are very low, from less than two years to six. Controlling for background variables, the last years of female primary schooling have a negative relation with fertility in about half the countries, while secondary schooling is associated with substantially lower fertility in all countries. Female schooling has a positive relationship with contraceptive use at all levels. Among ever-married women, husband's schooling exerts a smaller effect than does female schooling on contraceptive use and, in almost all cases, on fertility. Although the results suggest commonalities among these Sub-Saharan countries, they also reveal intriguing international differences in the impact of female schooling, which might reflect differences in the quality of schooling, labor markets, and family planning programs, among others. There is considerable debate in the literature as to whether high fertility and high desired family size in Africa are caused by low levels of economic development that favor large families (see World Bank 1984, 1986), or by unique cultural features (see Caldwell and Caldwell 1987, 1990). Without denying the possibility that cultural traits may contribute to higher demand for children in Africa than in other developing regions, most studies have found differentials in current or total fertility by socioeconomic class, even in high-fertility countries

Examining the Role of Couples’ Characteristics in Contraceptive use in Nigeria and Zambia

“…Zambia has less than 2% of couples who had no education, unlike Nigeria where slightly above a quarter had no education. The positive association between spousal education difference and contraceptive use stresses the importance of education in behavior modification toward uptake of contraceptives by couples 16,18,21,22 . Couples who are not educated are not likely to know the benefits of optimal spacing and limiting childbearing.…”

Psychological Wellbeing, Physical Impairments and Rural Aging in a Developing Country Setting

“…While several studies have evaluated the impact of geographical, educational, social, cultural, and political factors on the use of contraception [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], the findings of this analysis can be interpreted as showing that modern contraception rates in the absolute poor vary greatly across countries and are highly sensitive to the availability of services. The persistent gap between the absolute poor and the rest of the population is unlikely to be due to low demand for fertility regulation in these households.…”

Impact of women’s education on the economic growth: An empirical analysis applied to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt

“…Due to vast existing literature in the area on women's education and economic growth, it is suitable to recite some of them. Examining relationship between female schooling and two behaviours (the cumulative fertility and contraceptive use) in fourteen Sub-Saharan African countries, Ainsworth, Beegle, and Nyamete (1996) showed that increased women's education is linked to lower fertility.…”