SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa

6 Survey Results
88
Table 21. Average age composition of farming households in the Northern and Eastern regions of Sierra
Leone.
study this definition of the household is adopted
in order to provide a base for the analysis, which
represents a social and production unit.
To understand the composition of the
farm households, key demographic aspects
are described by focusing on gender, age and
education of the household members.
The gender composition and number of
household members for the sample average in
the East and North are summarised in Figure 21.
The graph shows that the average household is
composed of roughly similar numbers of girls,
boys, women and men (with slightly higher
averages in the East relative to the North) adding
up to a total household size of 11.7 members in
the East and 10.4 members in the North.
The average age of the household head
and spouse and the average age composition of
children by age category in the proportion of all
children in the household are described in Table
Northern region Eastern region
Age of household head 47 51
Age of spouse 37 37
% of the number of children under 10 yrs 35 % 30 %
% of the number of children between 10-18 yrs 27 % 34 %
% of the number of dependants above 18 yrs 38 % 37 %
Table 22. Educational composition of farming households in the Eastern and Northern regions of Sierra
Leone
Eastern region Northern region
Education of head (average over heads with education) 8.3 yrs. 9.2 yrs.
(% without any education) 67% 72%
Education of spouse (average over spouses with education) 7.8 yrs. 7.0 yrs.
(% without any education) 86% 89%
% of children in school 62% 60%
% of children not in school 38% 40%
21. On average, the age of the household head
is 47 years old in the sample households of the
North and 51 in the sample households of the
East. Their spouses are 37 years old on average
in both samples. The proportion of the children
across different age categories is quite similar in
both regions; however, the proportion of children
under 10 years is slightly higher in the Northern
region compared to the Eastern one.
The average years of schooling of the
household head and the number of children
enrolled in both regions are presented in Table
22. A large majority of household heads in the
sample have not received any formal education,
while those who have received can account
for 8-9 years of schooling. Absence of any
schooling of the household heads is slightly
more pronounced in the North than in the East,
and more pronounced in women than in men.
Concerning the education of the children, in
both regions around 2/3rd of the children attend
school and 1/3rd do not receive any education.