Volume 13 - Article 4 | Pages 83–116  

Fertility decline in North-Central Namibia: An assessment of fertility in the period 1960-2000 based on parish registers

By Riikka Shemeikka, Veijo Notkola, Harri Siiskonen

Abstract

This study examines fertility decline in North-Central Namibia in the period 1960-2000. A Scandinavian-type parish-register system, established in the beginning of 20th Century and still in use, provided register-based data for fertility analysis. Fertility decline began in 1980, was rapid in the 1980s, levelled off in the early 1990s, started again in 1994 and continued until the year 2000. Fertility declined in every age group, except among the 15-19 year olds, whose fertility increased. Cohort fertility started to decline among the 1940-44 birth cohort. During the 1980s, fertility decline was associated with increasing age at first marriage and declining marital fertility, connected to e.g. the War of Independence. During the 1990s, an increase in both the use of contraceptives and HIV-prevalence contributed to the fertility decline.

Author's Affiliation

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Does the fulfillment of contraceptive method preferences affect contraceptive continuation? Evidence from urban Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal
Volume 50 - Article 5    | Keywords: contraceptive discontinuation, contraceptive dynamics, contraceptive preferences, contraceptive use, family planning, patient-centered approach, preferences

Measuring the educational gradient of period fertility in 28 European countries: A new approach based on parity-specific fertility estimates
Volume 49 - Article 34    | Keywords: education, Europe, period fertility, quantum, tempo, total fertility rate (TFR)

The dynamic role of household structure on under-5 mortality in southern and eastern sub-Saharan Africa
Volume 49 - Article 11    | Keywords: child mortality, Health and Demographic Surveillance System, household structure, sub-Saharan Africa

Comparative evidence of years lived with reproductive-age morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa (2010‒2019)
Volume 49 - Article 6    | Keywords: life expectancy, maternal morbidities, reproductive age, sub-Saharan Africa

Investigating the application of generalized additive models to discrete-time event history analysis for birth events
Volume 47 - Article 22    | Keywords: discrete-time event history, educational differentials, fertility, general additive models, parity progression, period fertility, postponement of childbearing, retrospective histories, time since last birth, United Kingdom