African Demography Working Paper Series

Regional marriage patterns and trends in Northern Sudan

Abdelrahman Ibrahim Abdelrahman — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:15:52 PST

Marriage is an important institution for both individuals and society as a whole. It is a significant event in the life cycle of individuals; for society at large it represents the creation of a new unit of production, consumption, distribution and exchange of goods and services. In most comparative studies of nuptiality it has been usual to characterize sub-Saharan pattern of marriage as “early and universal”. Early and virtually continuous marriage throughout a woman's reproductive years is also maintained by several related marriage customs including polygyny, levirate marriage, and bride wealth or bride price (van de Walle, 1968;Goldman and Pebley, 1986).

Postpartum sexual abstinence in tropical Africa

Etienne van de Walle et al. — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:05:46 PST

Postpartum taboos on sexual intercourse have been encountered in many countries throughout history. They were once advocated by medical authorities in Europe. The Greek and Roman doctors of antiquity were opposed to sexual relations during nursing and their opinions were quoted until the nineteenth century. Galen (1951:29) thought that the milk of the nursing mother would be spoiled because of the admixture of sperm in the mother's blood. Soranos and Hippocrates believed that coitus and passionate behavior provided the stimulus that reactivated menstruation. Prior to the eighteenth century, there was no medical knowledge of the biological effect of bring on inence, and not the action of breastfeeding, was thought to delay the return of menses. This interpretation was still vivid in Europe in the eighteenth century.

Marriage patterns in Ankole, South-Western Uganda

James P. M. Ntozi et al. — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:50:23 PST

This paper studies marriage patterns and systems in Ankole. Discussed in the study are age at marriage, proportion married,marriage dissolution, remarriages, types of marriage and bridewealth. The paper finds that most of the marriage patterns are among the major causes of high fertility in the area.

Mother's income and child mortality in southern Nigeria

Ismaila Lawal Sulaiman — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:31:58 PST

Material resources affect the levels of mortality. In cross-sectional relationships income has been found to be positively associated with survival, both within and between countries. Preston (1975, 1976), in particular, using cross-national data for three separate decades of the 20th century, showed that at any point in time there was a positive relationship between national income per capita and life expectancy. Other studies (e.g., those reviewed in Cochrane et al., 1980) have arrived at the same conclusion. Within countries, just as at the cross-national level, child mortality has been found to be inversely related to the economic status of the family, but the measure of economic status used has not always been the same. In the minority are studies of socioeconomic determinants of child mortality which have examined the association between economic status, measured by income, and child survival (Anker and Knowles, 1980; Carvajal and Burgess, 1978; Farah and Preston, 1982; Schultz, 1980; Tekce and Shorter, 1983).

Demographic trends in Sub-Saharan Africa

Etienne van de Walle et al. — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:01:51 PST

The study of demographic trends in sub-Saharan Africa though crucial in the assessment of the impact of population size and growth on the overall socio-economic development in the region, has received the least attention due to lack of reliable data for most of the countries. This paper focuses on the utilization of available data secured through population censuses and demographic surveys particularly the World Fertility Survey to ascertain trends in fertility and mortality. The estimates derived from the above sources should be interpreted with caution since they suffer from diverse deficiencies in the data base particularly coverage, content and consistency. It is apparent, though debatable, from the available estimates that fertility has increased in some countries--Kenya and Cameroon; has remained almost stable in Benin, Ivory Coast and Lesotho; and has slightly declined in Ghana. The underlying factors with regard to the apparent increase hinge on the improvement in the socio-economic indicators i.e. education and health services; relaxation of traditional controls i.e. breastfeeding and post-partum abstinence; and a reduction in the level of sterility. As far as trends in mortality are concerned, the estimates posit a decline in both infant and child mortality in Kenya, Benin and Ivory Coast; infant mortality in Cameroon; and child mortality in North Sudan and Senegal. Overall mortality levels are high in Western and Central Africa and low in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Attitudes of women and men towards contraception in Bobo-Dioulasso

Francine van de Walle et al. — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:36:32 PST

The extent of knowledge and practice of contraception in African populations remains hard to evaluate and despite the great influx of data from the World Fertility Surveys, the impact of contraception on fertility levels is difficult to measure. The practice of abstinence for the purpose of spacing births is widespread in Africa. It was discussed in demographic terms already by Lorimer in 1954. More recently the Caldwells (1977, 1981), by carefully investigating the phenomenon among the Yoruba, contributed greatly to establish the place of sexual abstinence in the study of the determinants of African fertility. Lately, data from the World Fertility Survey have shown large variations in the length of post-partum abstinence between countries and among different ethnic groups. Anthropological research has thrown some light on the different functions attributed to post-partum sexual abstinence, and the different reasons for practicing it.

Prevalence and determinants of child fosterage in West Africa: relevance to demography

Uche C. Isiugo-Abanihe — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:55:41 PST

Ethnographic studies in West Africa show that the practice of sending children away to be raised by relatives and nonrelatives is widespread among many ethnic groups. This paper is an attempt to explore the demographic relevance of the practice. The fostering information is obtained from two sources: the responses given by women to the question on children away from home, and by linking all children to their mothers with the unmatched children being treated as fosters. The characteristics of these children, their surrogate mothers, and those of the biological mothers are explored, and the determinants of child fostering are discussed as correlates of these attributes. The results are indicative of high incidence of child fosterage in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Child fostering enhances female labor force participation, and may affect the fertility decisions of both natural and foster parents, mainly because it serves to reallocate the resources available for raising children within the society. It may also have consequences on child survival, depending partly on how the culture treats children outside of their maternal homes.

The level and age pattern of mortality in Bandafassi (Eastern Senegal): results from a small-scale and intensive multi-round survey

Gilles Pison et al. — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:26:00 PST

The data collected by the Bandafassi demographic study in Eastern Senegal, a small-scale intensive and experimental follow-up survey on a population of about 7,000 inhabitants in 1983, were analyzed to derive an estimation of the life table. The use of the multi-round survey technique, combined with anthropological methods to estimate the ages or collect genealogies, results in unusually reliable data. Taking into account the uncertainty of the estimates related to the small size of the population, the measures of mortality show a high mortality level, with life-expectancy at birth close to 31 years; a pattern of infant and child mortality close to what has been observed in other rural areas of Senegal; a seasonal pattern in child mortality with two high risk periods, the rainy season and the end of the dry season; an adult mortality pattern similar to what is described in model life tables for developed countries; no significant differences according to sex or ethnic group. The example of the Bandafassi population study and of a few similar studies, suggests that one possible way to improve demographic estimates in countries where vital registration systems are defective would be to set up a sample of population laboratories where intensive methods of data collection would continue for extended periods.

The relationship between the level of household sanitation and child mortality: an examination of Ghanaian data

P. Wolanya Stephens — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:00:01 PST

This paper examines the relationship between sanitation and the risk of child mortality in Ghana in 1971. In addition to using the presence or absence of toilet and water facilities in the home as an indicator of sanitation, combinations of the types of toilet or water facilities and the education of the mother are used. The results of the analysis show that although better facilities for example, piped water, water closets or private latrines) are often associated with lower child mortality, the advantages of better sanitation facilities are severely limited when mothers are not educated. Providing as little as one to six years of formal education results in considerable reductions in child mortality risks even among mothers using poor water and toilet facilities, and the combination of some education and adequate facilities appears to reduce substantially the risk of death.

The age pattern of infant and child mortality in Ngayokheme (rural West Africa)

Michel Garenne — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:33:58 PST

The paper presents and discusses the age pattern of mortality observed in Ngayokheme (Sine Saloum, Senegal). It is compared to data of other developing areas and to model life tables. Mortality at ages 1 to 4 is shown to be much higher than anywhere else where data are available. Reasons for this pattern are investigated. Emphasis is given to the epidemiological pattern, especially to diarrheal diseases and malaria and to the seasonality of mortality.

The next child: spacing strategy in Yorubaland (with translations from taped interviews)

Lawrence A. Adeokun — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 11:17:37 PST

The translations of taped interviews with Yoruba parents in two' sub-ethnic groups, the lkale and the Ekiti, are the substance of this Working Paper. Very rarely do the views expressed at the field level survive into research reports, much less reach the demographer, concerned as he or she is ultimately with aggregated analysis. Very rarely, too, does the opportunity arise for parents involved in demographic surveys to '.have en input into the development of survey concepts. They are usually faced with readymade conceptualization, definition and operationalization of phenomena closely related to their lives, and asked to respond within these limits. The convention of pre-testing questionnaires, embodying those pre-determined concepts, helps up to the point of identifying inappropriate concepts, but not those that may be most germane.

Child mortality differentials in Sudan

Adbul-Aziz Farah et al. — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:46:26 PST

Sudan presents an excellent opportunity for studying mortality conditions in poor countries. It is one of the 25 "least developed" countries by U.N. designation, most of whom have very little information on mortality and general health conditions. As the largest African country in area, Sudan is also a land of rich ecological contrast, stretching from desert areas in the North through savannah areas to dense equatorial jungle in the South. The northern portions are Arabic and Islamic, the southern portions black African. The 1955/56 census enumerated 597 tribes speaking some 115 languages. Aridity in the North and swamps in the South have retarded the development of these areas and fostered nomadism, population concentration is greatest in the middle belt and particularly along the Nile and its tributaries.

This paper has since been published as: "Child Mortality Differentials in Sudan," by Abdul-Aziz Farah; Samuel H. Preston in, Population and Development Review, Vol. 8, No. 2. (Jun., 1982), pp. 365-383.

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0098-7921%28198206%298%3A2%3C365%3ACMDIS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4

Mechanisms affecting the link between nuptiality and fertility: Tanzania, 1973

Emmanuel K. Sekatawa — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:25:26 PST

The analytical framework proposed by Davis and Blake (1956) divides the process of reproduction into three elements: (i) exposure to the risk of pregnancy, (ii) the ability to conceive and (iii) successful gestation. This paper is concerned with the first element. Data from the 1973 National Demographic Survey of Tanzania (NDS) are used to investigate the role of marriage behavior in determining fertility levels. Coale's parameters of the age pattern of first marriage ao, k and C are translated into Im-type measures. A system of indices is developed to represent the effects of the prevalence and age patterns of first marriage, marital disruption and remarriage on fertility. Techniques for obtaining detailed information on the process of marital dissolution and subsequent remarriage are presented. The potential effects of changes in nuptia1ity patterns on fertility are discussed.

Size of households in tropical Africa

Michel Garenne — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:23:44 PST

The paper starts with a discussion of the concepts of household and family in historical and contemporary populations and summarizes the debate about size of households. A study of the average size of households and compounds recorded by censuses and surveys in tropical Africa is done followed by a discussion of the various definitions of households. Finally an illustration is given using data collected on the Serer, an ethnic group in Senegal.

Patterns of low-income settlement and mobility in Nairobi, Kenya

J. W. Muwonge — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:07:00 PST

The author traces the development of low-incoming housing zones in the city of Nairobi (Kenya), which were initially shaped by the exclusive urban policies of the British Colonial Government, and further influenced by minimum standards codes established after Independence. Using a random sample of 1,480 heads of households, the author examines zones of entry into the city, with a view to identifying the residential patterns which low-income migrants establish in the process of becoming securely settled in the city. Three distinctive zones are identified, namely, the central, the intermediate, and the peripheral zones. The author offers several demographic.

Modernization and the fertility transition, Egypt, 1975

Mahmoud S. Abdou Issa — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 07:38:40 PST

This study investigates regional marital fertility differentials in Egypt and their relationship to the level of modernization of the region: defined as economic development and social and cultural change. The intermediate variables (Davis and Blake, 1965) underlying these regional levels and patterns of marital fertility are determined and their relation to the level of modernization of the region is also evaluated. In order to assess the nature of the recent decline in the crude birth rate in Egypt, the long term fertility and mortality levels are discussed. The prospects of a fertility transition in Egypt are assessed in terms of the current fertility level and pattern, the extent of deliberate fertility regulation, the urban-rural fertility differential and differentials by socioeconomic status.

The study draws from Easterlin's model of social and economic determinants of marital fertility as a frame of reference. The model's basic social and economic intermediate variables (denoted Cn, Cd, and CR)are evaluated, and the model's interpretations of cross-sectional marital fertility differentials by socioeconomic status and the long term fertility trend are empirically verified.

The study of mortality in the African context

Etienne van de Walle et al. — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:19:52 PST

The demographic study of mortality in Subsaharan Africa is dominated by two paradoxes. The first has to do with the recognition awarded to the topic. The persistence of high mortality levels--higher probably than in any other large world region--makes it a potentially burning social issue. The people of the area are concerned about access to modern medicine and the eradication of diseases. If a field calls for the development of accurate statistics, this is it. We know little about mortality levels and their distribution over space; we know even less on trends, and virtually nothing about mortality differentials by social and economic circumstances. There are no major breakthroughs in morbidity and cause of death statistics. Africa is still far from the stage reached in Europe 150 years ago in the study of mortality. When William Farr organized the collection of vital statistics in England and Wales his concern and that of his contemporaries was with the fight against disease. Farr, a mere Compiler of Abstracts at the Registrar General's Office, was hailed as the foremost medical statistician of his time; it was said that after him "pestilence no longer walketh in the dark." The use of the data he helped to collect was decisive in the conquest of the major scourge of the time, cholera. He provided information on the location of the most unsanitary sections of the country and identified the most dangerous occupations. We doubt that the demographic statistics that are collected today in Africa are used very much in the same way, to identify areas of infection and classes of the population specially vulnerable to specific diseases. Despite the importance of these issues, and despite the universal desire to prolong life and to eliminate the human wastage of early death, little effort goes into the collection of demographic data on morta1ity. This becomes more apparent if we compare research on mortality to the much more active interest in fertility, although the latter topic is not widely recognized in the area itself as a burning issue. Out aim is certainly not to suggest that less research should be directed towards fertility and its determinants. Rather, we find it paradoxical that mortality research does not elicit more attention.

Response variability in African demographic survey data : a case study of a Nigerian village

Emmanuel Kenneth Andoh — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:55:58 PST

This paper is an excerpt from Ken Andoh's doctoral dissertation, "Response Variability in African Demographic Survey Data: A Case Study of a Nigerian Village," written at the Population Studies Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The sources of data for this study are surveys carried out in three villages in Southern Nigeria in December 1973 and Fall, 1974 by Dr. Frank L. Mott (under the auspices of the Human Resources Research Unit, University of Lagos, Nigeria, with the assistance of the Population Council. Vital registration, which is the source of accurate demographic information, is described as inadequate for all tropical Africa. Based on surveys conducted in a Southern Nigerian village in 1973 and 1974, this study seeks to estimate the prevalence and magnitude of misreporting vital events. Survey responses concerning age of respondents, age of children, marital status, duration of residence in the village, educational level, occupation, number of pregnancies, and number of children are presented, and are compared from one survey to the next, revealing great discrepancies between the responses. The degree of correspondence between the surveys was calculated. Certain groups of respondents and certain questions were subject to greater levels of inconsistency than others, with age, number of pregnancies and children, and period of residence exhibiting the highest inconsistency indices.