Rural-urban differentials in fertility behaviour are neither new nor surprising, but
a difference of over four children per woman as observed between rural Ethiopia
and the country's national capital, Addis Ababa, in 1990 is rare, possibly unique.
Reported fertility in Addis Ababa in 1990 was about 2.6 children per woman. By
the mid-1990s, it declined further to 1.8 children per woman. This study
investigates the dimensions, components and causes of this remarkable
reproductive change.
¶
The study specifically asks and seeks to answer the following questions. Is the
decline real, or is it merely an illusion created by faulty reporting? If it is real, how
has it come about? Did it result from a change in the onset of reproduction or a
decline in the proportion of women reaching high parities or both? And in what
context has such a fundamental, even revolutionary, change taken place in a
country and a continent that are mostly yet to join the global transition to a small
family-size norm.
¶
Data for the study were drawn from two national population censuses,
undertaken in 1984 and 1994, two fertility surveys, conducted in 1990 and 1995,
and a number of supplementary sources, including a qualitative study conducted
by the investigator. Results from the study confirm that the trend of declining
fertility and the recent fall to below-replacement-level are indeed real. As the
analysis shows the decline was largely driven by changes in the marriage pattern,
and supplemented by the increased propensity of fertility control observed across
all birth orders and age groups. All socio-economic groups in the city have had a
decline in cohort fertility and this was brought about both by shifts in population
composition (a composition effect) and increased intensity of fertility control
within each group (a rate effect). The institutional and cultural factors that are
believed to have prompted these changes are discussed in the thesis in some
detail.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216710 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Kinfu Ashagrea, Yohannes, yohannes@coombs.anu.edu.au |
| Publisher | The Australian National University. Research School of Social Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.anu.edu.au/legal/copyright/copyrit.html), Copyright Yohannes Kinfu Ashagrea |
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