Effects of Education on Determinants of High Desired Fertility: Evidence from Ugandan Villages

Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová () and Pavel Streblov ()
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Pavel Streblov: Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, http://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/

No 2006/23, Working Papers IES from Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies

Abstract: High desired fertility is an important factor contributing to the population explosion in sub-Saharan Africa. On a broad sample of 910 respondents from the rural areas of Uganda this paper assesses the impact of health risks, economic contributions from children, traditional community institutions and unequal position of women on desired fertility levels. The paper further scrutinizes how these determinants are affected by education. The results show that fear of diseases and involvement in traditional clan institutions increase desired number of children. Interestingly, these effects can be remarkably mitigated through education that improves the individual health prevention as well as reduces the influence of clans. Economic incentives for having children seem to be less significant than other factors. In addition, a very significant difference in desired fertility between men and women emerges, nevertheless education leads both to reduction and convergence of their desired fertility levels. All these findings suggest that education stimulates a complex change in fertility preferences and underline the importance of education as efficient tool for reducing rapid population growth.

Keywords: fertility; education; development; demography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I2 J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2006-09, Revised 2006-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-dev
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Related works:
Journal Article: Effects of Education on Determinants of High Desired Fertility: Evidence from Ugandan Villages (2007)
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