Child schooling and contraceptive use in rural Africa: A Ghanaian case study

Author: Benefo, Kofi

Source: Population Research and Policy Review, Volume 24, Number 1, January 2005 , pp. 1-25(25)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

In this study, I examine the contributions of children’s schooling to fertility decline in Africa. I use cross-sectional data collected in the late 1980s to look at how household child schooling patterns and community access to schools affect contraceptive use among rural Ghanaian women. My results indicate that the schooling of children is associated very strongly with increased use of modern and traditional contraceptive use and thereby suggest that educational policy has played a role in initiating and sustaining fertility decline in Ghana and possibly elsewhere in Africa.

Keywords: Africa; fertility; multilevel analysis; schooling

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11113-005-8986-x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Sociology and Social Work, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, NY, 10468-1589, USA, Email: benefok@aol.com

Publication date: 2005-01-01