Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:43:06.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is fertility falling in Zimbabwe?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Eric O. Udjo
Eric O. Udjo
Affiliation:
Department of Demography, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

With an unequalled contraceptive prevalence rate in sub-Saharan Africa, of 43% among currently married women in Zimbabwe, the Central Statistical Office (1989) observed that fertility has declined sharply in recent years. Using data from several surveys on Zimbabwe, especially the birth histories of the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, this study examines fertility trends in Zimbabwe. The results show that the fertility decline in Zimbabwe is modest and that the decline is concentrated among high order births. Multivariate analysis did not show a statistically significant effect of contraception on fertility, partly because a high proportion of Zimbabwean women in the reproductive age group never use contraception due to prevailing pronatalist attitudes in the country.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 25 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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

Aoun, S. & Airey, P. (1988) Illustrative Application of the Use of Projected Parity Progression Ratios. CPS Research Paper 88–2, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.Google Scholar
Brass, W., Coale, A. J., Demeny, P., Heisel, D. F., Lorimer, F., Romaniuk, A. & Van De, Walle E. (1968) The Demography of Tropical Africa. pp. 88–104. Princeton University Press, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, W. (1974) Perspectives in population prediction: illustrated by the statistics of England and Wales. J. roy. statist. Soc. Series, A137, 532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brass, W. (1981) The use of the Gompertz Relational Model to estimate fertility. In: Proceedings of the IUSSP International Conference, Manila, Vol. 3, pp. 345–362. IUSSP, Liège.Google Scholar
Brass, W. (1985) Advances in Methods for Estimating Fertility and Mortality from Limited and Defective Data. pp. 69–74. Centre for Population Studies, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.Google Scholar
Central Statistical Office (1989) Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey 1988. pp. 28–31. IRD, Columbia, Maryland.Google Scholar
Central Statistical Office (1991) Intercensal Demographic Survey. Central Statistical Office, Harare.Google Scholar
Feeney, G. (1988) The use of parity progression models in evaluating family planning programmes. In: IUSSP African Population Conference, Dakar, Vol. 3, pp. 7.1.17–30. IUSSP, Liège.Google Scholar
Hamad, A. M. (1982) The Robustness of the P/F Ratio Technique for Fertility Estimation to Assumptions and Some Forms of Data Errors. PhD thesis, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, G. & Hoecraft, J. N. (1980) Illustrative Analysis: Life Table Analysis of Birth Intervals in Colombia. World Fertility Survey Scientific Reports, No. 16. International Statistical Institute, Voorburg.Google Scholar
Zaba, B. (1981) Use of the Relational Gompertz Model in Analysing Fertility Data Collected in Retrospective Surveys. Centre for Population Studies Working Paper 8 1–2, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.Google Scholar
Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council. (1985) Zimbabwe Reproductive Health Survey 1984. Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council and Westinghouse Public Applied Systems.Google Scholar