FERTILITY DIFFERENTIALS IN THE WEST AFRICAN SUB-REGION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GHANA AND NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigeria and Ghana are the most densely populated countries in the West African sub region with Nigeria being over 140 million people with a population growth rate of 2.4% and Ghana being over 24 million people and a population growth rate of 2.2%. This study examined factors encouraging the unprecedented fertility levels in the two countries as well as the differentials in the effect of factors across the countries. A comparative cross sectional study which 33,385 women and 4,916 women aged 15-49 years in Nigeria and Ghana respectively. The outcome variable for this study (fertility level, defined by the number of children ever born by women of reproductive age) was group into Low (less than 2 children), Medium (2-4) and High (above 4) fertility. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square and multinomial logistic regression technique in SPSS version 20. AU analyses were performed at 5% level of significance. The mean age of the women respondents in Nigeria was 28.65 ± 9.49 years and Ghana was 29 ± 9.70 years. The proportion of women respondents in Nigeria and Ghana were less than half of the respondents (45%) were in the age bracket 25 - 39 years while 38% were aged 15 - 24 years. Nigerians seem to have more women living in the rural areas compared to Ghanaian women. Respondents who were currently married were 2.49 times more likely to have high fertility level against low fertility level than those who were not in unions (OR = 2.49, 95% CI = 2.04-3.04). The odds of high fertility are lower among Nigerian women living in urban areas compared to those that reside in the rural area (OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.83- 1.06). Also, the odds of high fertility against low fertility are 2.6 times higher among respondents with primary education compared to those with secondary education (OR = 2.64, 95% CI = 2.30- 3.04). Respondents with no education are 2.1 times more likely to have high fertility level against low fertility compared to those with the secondary education (OR = 2.06, 95% Cl = 1.75-2.42). In this study the fertility level of CEB is marginally higher in Urban area among those with no formal education, age at first sexual intercourse and the level of contraceptive use is also still very low especially in the rural areas because of the fear of side effects. It is suggested that the female education should be beyond the no formal education level reduced infant and child mortality, correct knowledge on the use of contraceptive and awareness were amongst the main factors that affect the fertility level.