Explaining regional fertility variations in Ghana
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Date
2015-04-17
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University of Ghana
Abstract
Ghana's current population is about 24.2 million, and given the
current population growth rate of 2.4%, Ghana's population is
expected to double in about 29 years. Although fertility rates in Ghana
have declined from 6.4 to 4 children per woman between 1988 and
2008, this transition has not been homogenous across all regions of
Ghana. Fertility rates remain higher in the northern regions of the
country, compared to the southern regions. This paper examines
explanations for the regional fertility variations- particularly the
persistently high fertility rates observed in the northern regions-paying
particular attention to the contribution of socioeconomic,
cultural and religious factors, and fertility attitudes among women in
explaining this phenomenon. In order to capture the most recent
fertility variations in the country, the paper uses the most recent
round (2008) of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, and
employs a Poisson multivariate estimation technique. Results indicate
that regional differences in fertility are largely explained by socioeconomic
factors such as urbanization, child mortality, education and
household wealth. Cultural and religious factors also explain some of
the observed variation between the Northern region and the southern
regions. The inclusion of the duration of post-par tum amenorrhea and
other proximate determinants in the model specifications significantly
explains residual differences in fertility outcomes, particularly
among the three northern regions. Findings therefore indicate a need
for more region-specific policy targeting in the effort to reduce high
fertility rates and ease the growth in population.
Description
School of social sciences colloquium
Keywords
fertility, socioeconomic, urbanization, homogenous