Volume 53 - Article 8 | Pages 219–244  

Education, religion, and male fertility in sub-Saharan Africa: A descriptive analysis

By Afua Durowaa-Boateng

Abstract

Background: Male fertility remains under-studied in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in terms of how education, religion, and relationship status influence fertility patterns. While female fertility is well documented, male fertility trends are less understood.

Objective: This study investigates how education, religious affiliation, and relationship status shape changes in the mean number of children for men across birth cohorts in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: The study uses a Poisson regression to find the relationship between various parameters of interest and the mean number of children ever born for males using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data for 36 sub-Saharan African countries.

Results: The mean number of children changed across cohorts, with men in polygamous relationships having more children than others. However, education and religion have varying effects on male fertility across countries, with relationship status playing a much stronger role.

Conclusions: Relationship status and birth cohort play a more significant role in determining the number of children men have than the interaction between education and religion.

Contribution: This study expands on male fertility research by highlighting the interplay of education, religion, and relationship status on a country-specific level, emphasising the need for targeted policies.

Author’s Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

A Bayesian model for the reconstruction of education- and age-specific fertility rates: An application to African and Latin American countries
Volume 49 - Article 31

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Examining the relationships between education, coresidential unions, and the fertility gap by simulating the reproductive life courses of Dutch women
Volume 52 - Article 24    | Keywords: contraception, education, fertility, GGS, life course, LISS, microsimulation, Netherlands, physiology, unions

Demographic convergence in marriage timing: Intersecting gender and educational expansion
Volume 52 - Article 14    | Keywords: age at marriage, convergence, cross-country, education, gender, union formation

Left behind single in the partnering market? Entry into cohabiting unions by women and men with low educational attainment across regions of Europe, cohorts 1960 to 1985
Volume 51 - Article 43    | Keywords: cohabitation, education, Europe, European Social Survey, event history analysis, logistic regression, marginalization, partner selection, singlehood, union formation

Is single parenthood increasingly an experience of less-educated mothers? A European comparison over five decades
Volume 51 - Article 34    | Keywords: age, children, cross-national comparison, education, Europe, family life course, inequality, single motherhood

Children under 5 in polygynous households in sub-Saharan Africa, 2000 to 2020
Volume 51 - Article 32    | Keywords: children, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), family demography, polygyny, sub-Saharan Africa

Cited References: 39

Download to Citation Manager