August 20, 2015 | News | Suessmilch Lecture

Slow fertility transition in Africa

On September 3, 2015, John Bongaarts, demographer and vice president at the Population Council,  New York, USA, will give a lecture at the MPIDR. He will address the question of why fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa was later and is slower than in the developing world.

About the Talk
Over the past half century massive changes in reproductive behavior have occurred throughout the developing world with the total fertility rate declining by 56 per cent-from 6.0 to 2.7 births per woman between 1960 and 2010. Declines have been especially rapid in Asia and Latin America over this period but in sub-Saharan Africa (“Africa”) the fertility transition occurred later and is proceeding at a slower pace. Although fertility transitions have started in most African countries since the 1980s, these declines have usually been modest. In addition, in a number of African countries fertility has stalled in mid-transition, a pattern that has rarely been observed in other regions.

This study finds that the slow pace of the African transition can be attributed to several factors. First, the pace of African development has been slow and other things being equal this alone would lead to slower transitions. Second, the pro-natalist nature of African societies implies a resistance to fertility decline that does not exist or is weaker in non-African countries. Finally, family planning programs remain weak in many African countries. This is clearly a missed opportunity because in the few countries where governments have made family planning programs a priority (e.g. in Rwanda and Ethiopia) rapid uptake of contraception and fertility decline followed.

About the Presenter
John Bongaarts is a vice president and Distinguished Scholar at the Population Council. He joined the Council in 1973, following a postdoctoral fellowship in population dynamics at Johns Hopkins University. His research on critical demographic challenges—such as population momentum, the determinants of fertility, the impact of family planning programs, population–environment relationships, and the demographic effects of the AIDS epidemic—assists policymakers in addressing these issues.

Time and Venue

Thursday, September 3, 2015, 4 p.m. in the Institute´s Auditorium

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The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.