Fertility Transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa at the Sub-National Level

Bruno D. Schoumaker, Université Catholique de Louvain
Dominique Tabutin, Université Catholique de Louvain

The objective of this paper will be to describe and provide explanatory factors for fertility levels and trends at the regional level in sub-Saharan Africa, using the available demographic and health surveys data collected since the mid 1980s in Sub-Saharan Africa. The first part of the paper will consist in describing levels and trends of general fertility and its main proximate determinants at the regional level. In the second part of the paper, we will analyze the relationships between fertility levels and trends and the main proximate determinants of fertility using the Bongaarts model. The third section will be devoted to the analysis of the influence of socio-economic and demographic factors (education, standard of living, child mortality…) on fertility levels and trends at the regional level. Special attention will be given to the identification of factors linked to the stalling fertility transitions.