Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and the largest Black demographic in the world. If current trends continue, the country is projected to become the third most populous … Read more
Premature drops in estrogen from early menopausal age may increase the risk of disease and death in later life. To understand what influences early menopausal onset, we looked at the … Read more
The centrality of women’s economic empowerment in achieving the sustainable development goals has attracted high level policy interest. Data limitations impede knowledge of its extent in Africa. Demographic and health … Read more
In low- and middle-income countries, children survive better in urban than in rural areas. However, Ashira Menashe-Orenand and Bruno Masquelier find that this is not necessarily the case amongst adults, … Read more
Despite widespread prevalence of HIV/AIDS, South Africa has succeeded in drastically reducing mortality and increasing life expectancy, from 54 to more than 65 years in little over a decade (2006-17). … Read more
In low- and middle-income countries, mobile phones can be viewed as empowering devices for women, says Luca Maria Pesando. Among other advantages, they frequently, although not always, protect women from … Read more
Current explanations on the link between mortality and fertility imply that mortality exposure increases fertility desires. Conversely, Emily Smith-Greenaway, Sara Yeatman, and Abdallah Chilungo find that, in Malawi, increased mortality … Read more
An original multi-sited analysis of migration (from selected sub-Saharan African countries to France) and contraceptive use reveals that migrant women align more closely with native French women than women in … Read more
Analysing consecutive birth cohorts in 21 sub-Saharan African countries over the 20th century, Joerg Baten, Michiel De Haas, Elisabeth Kempter and Felix Meier zu Selhausen find that gender gaps first … Read more
Understanding the determinants of child health and mortality is an important step towards reducing child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Philippe Bocquier, Carren Ginsburg, Ashira Menashe-Oren, Yacouba Compaoré, and Mark Collinson … Read more
Africa’s growing population of young people is an economic resource that could bring positive change to the continent’s economic future. African countries are experiencing what is known as the demographic … Read more
The ratio of males to females at birth is consistently lower in sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions of the world. Anne Morse and Nancy Luke suggest that this pattern may be … Read more
Daphne H. Liu and Adrian E. Raftery find that increasing women’s educational attainment and contraceptive prevalence can have an accelerating effect on fertility decline in high-fertility countries, with a larger … Read more
The Internet is a time-saving and cost-effective modern technology to enact general healthcare programs. Veronica Toffolutti, Hai Ma, Giulia Menichelli, Ester Berlot, Letizia Mencarini and Arnstein Aassve argue that it … Read more
Using nationally representative data from Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, Valeria Cetorelli, Ben Wilson, Ewa Batyra and Ernestina Coast examine whether national policies banning female genital mutilation/cutting … Read more
Barbara S. Mensch, Monica Grant and Erica Soler-Hampejsek estimate the effect of enrolment, grade attainment, and skills on herpes and HIV among Malawian adolescents. Grade attained is significantly associated with … Read more
Few investigators examine program diffusion because they lack data from outside the intervention areas. Using data collected from state-level surveys, David Guilkey, Lisa Calhoun and Ilene Speizer demonstrate the spread of … Read more
Does union status affect the intergenerational transmission of advantage? Using data from 30 African countries, Emily Smith-Greenaway examines whether the health advantages associated with parents’ education are comparable for childrenwith … Read more
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, Liliana Andriano and Christiaan Monden show that, everything else equal, each additional year of maternal schooling reduces children’s probability of dying before age … Read more
International migration and family life are frequently difficult to reconcile. Valentina Mazzucato, Djamila Schans, Kim Caarls, and Cris Beauchemin focus on three cases (the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, and … Read more
Substantial literature documents that twins have higher mortality than singletons, but does not address whether this twin disadvantage eventually disappears, and if so, at what age. Roland Pongou, David Shapiro … Read more
Offering free daycare services could substantially increase female employment in Africa. Results from a randomized control trial conducted by Shelley Clark, Caroline Kabiru, Sonia Laszlo, and Stella Muthuri in an … Read more
Wolfgang Lutz, Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, and Nicholas Gailey show that the “demographic dividend” does not result from the opening of “a window of opportunity” caused by a declining youth dependency … Read more
Fostering is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but the motivations for fostering and consequences for fostered children remain unclear. In northern Tanzania, Sophie Hedges, Rebecca Sear, Jim Todd, Mark Urassa, and … Read more
As fertility declines in low- and middle-income countries, the time women devote to childrearing may also be reduced, opening up possibilities for women to pursue educational and employment opportunities. John Bongaarts, … Read more
Various explanations have been put forward to shed light on individual decisions to migrate and the effects of migration on the household of origin. Using panel data from migrants and … Read more
The fertility-contraceptive relationship has weakened in recent years, meaning that greater contraceptive prevalence is needed to obtain a comparable reduction in fertility. Various explanations have been attempted, including unobserved heterogeneity … Read more
Masked by time, educational disruptions of the 1980s help explain why steady fertility declines came to a surprising halt in the 2000s in ten sub-Saharan African countries. The findings, according … Read more
Fertility changes in urban versus rural areas of the global South matter for world population dynamics. However, no patterned regularity over time has yet been observed. Mathias Lerch re-assesses long-term … Read more
The implementation of fertility desires through contraception is imperfect, resulting in unplanned births and induced abortions. The highest unplanned pregnancy rates (over two pregnancies during a woman’s lifetime) are observed … Read more
Today, urban health conditions are often assumed to be universally superior to those of the rural sector. However, as Ashira Menashe-Oren and Guy Stecklov show, while child mortality is higher … Read more
Although previously unknown among natives in EU28, the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting is a present concern for European policymakers. As many as 500,000 foreign-born girls and women in Europe … Read more
Global social changes that diffuse across the world from country to country often proceed most quickly in those places that start last. Change in the pioneer regions is delayed by … Read more
Over time, women’s educational attainment in sub-Saharan Africa has been increasing (Barro and Lee, 2013), while infant and child mortality have been decreasing (United Nations, 2015). Both changes have contributed … Read more
Living standards have risen generally, and poverty rates have fallen across Sub-Saharan Africa since the late 1990s (Chen and Ravallion, 2013). Less is known about how different groups have fared.In … Read more
The fertility transition, defined as a change from high and natural fertility (in a range of five to nine children per woman) to low and controlled fertility (down to two … Read more
In Kenya, rapid population growth has occurred amidst poor urban governance and limited employment opportunities, leading to widespread urban poverty that is concentrated in informal settlements or slums. In Nairobi, … Read more
Age at first marriage has been rising throughout sub-Saharan Africa for more than twenty-five years. The median age at first marriage has increased by an average of 1-2 years across … Read more
Less than 3% of Africans live outside their country of birth, below the world average of around 3.1%.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the third most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of the countries with the highest fertility in the world, at 6.6 … Read more
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CR/VS) is an essential administrative system in modern societies. The registration of births and deaths defines a number of basic rights and duties, and is … Read more
A fashionable but controversial concept The ‘demographic dividend’ has become a fashionable concept over the past 20 years, and was the focus of the recent UAPS conference held in South … Read more
Daniel Scott Smith, a historical demographer, said it well: demography has all the ingredients of the best novels, sex and death, but they hide the pleasure of the former under … Read more
Why do we need better data on older people? To accurately understand population change – its scale, speed, determinants and variants – we need accurate data on the age of … Read more
It is heartening to see the renewal of interest in demography by at least some African governments. A share of the credit for this can be attributed to the discourse … Read more
General trends and directions of African migration African migration is often perceived as massive and increasing, mainly directed toward Europe, and driven by poverty and violence (Lessault and Beauchemin 2009). However, … Read more
Introduction The need for timely and reliable mortality estimates is acute in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and about half of all under-five deaths. Yet, there is considerable uncertainty as to mortality … Read more
Advocacy is a funny thing. If you feel strongly enough about a cause, as everyone in international development does these days, it is no longer enough to campaign for something … Read more
The United Nations Sustainable Development Summit was held in New York on 25-27 September 2015. The 193-member UN General Assembly formally adopted the ambitious agenda “Transforming Our World: 2030 Agenda … Read more
Au début des années 1970, la fécondité restait très élevée en Tunisie et au Maroc (6,5 enfants par femme) malgré les programmes de planning familial mis en œuvre au milieu … Read more
Examinons quatre types d’objectifs pouvant légitimer des politiques de population dans un contexte donné : réduire la mortalité (Vallin et Meslé, 2006), limiter la fécondité si la croissance démographique est trop … Read more
