Final Report (PDF, 2132K) - Measure DHS

educational attainment, differences between the TFR and children ever born are minor for women with noeducation (6.7 versus 7.0) and primary education (7.1 versus 7.0), but more substantial for women withsecondary or more education (5.4 versus 6.1). This suggests that education has played an important rolein bringing about the decline in fertility in Ondo State over the last twenty years. If this is so, the fact thatthe percentage of women with secondary or more education is much higher among younger than amongolder women (80 percent versus 3 percent, Table 1.4) suggests that further declines in fertility may occur.Evidence for fertility decline in southwest Nigeria is recent. The Nigerian Fertility Survey founda TFR for southwestem Nigeria for the period 1977 to 1981 of 6.6 and a mean number of children everborn to women 45-49 of 6.0 (National Population Bureau, 1984, Tables 5.11 and 5.12). The relativelylow estimate for the number of children ever boru may have been due to underreporting of births by olderwomen in the NFS or may reflect low fertility in the late 1960s during the Nigerian Civil War (whenwomen 45-49 in 1981-82 were in their peak childbearing years). Notwithstanding the absence of adefinitive explanation for the pattem of estimates from the Nigerian Fertility Survey, the ODHS estimatesclearly indicate a fertility decline.Differentials in fertility for population subgroups are also shown in Table 3.1. For the five-yearperiod preceding the survey, there is little difference between the TFR for urban (5.9) and rural (6.0) areasand, while the TFR for riverine areas (6.4) is somewhat higher, it is based on relatively few woman-yearsof exposure. Differentials by religious affiliation indicate that fertility is higher for Catholic (6.6) andMuslim women (6.4) than for Protestant women (5.8).The largest fertility differentials occur between education groups; the TFR is highest for womenwith a primary education (7.1), lowest for women with a secondary education (5.4) and intermediate forwomen with no education (6.7). The finding of higher fertility for women with a primary education thanfor women with no education is not uncommon in sub-Saharan countries and was found in the LiberiaDHS survey (Chieh-Johnson, et al., 1988). In the case of Ondo State, this differential is not due to adifference in the age at which childbearing begins, since age at first marriage and at first birth are aboutthe same for women with no education and women with a primary education (Tables 2.4 and 3.6).Instead, the difference probably arises as a result of longer intervals between births for women with noeducation, who practice sexual abstinence for a longer period following the birth of a child than dowomen with a primary education (27 versus 21 months, Table 2.6).3.3 Age-Specific Fertility RatesAge-specific fertility rates for the five-year period immediately preceding the ODHS are shownin Table 3.2. Fertility is quite low for the age group 15-19 (61 per 1,000), rises to a peak for the 25-29age group (301 per 1,000), remains high for women 30-34 (293 per 1,000) and declines thereafter. Thispattem of fertility is similar to the pattern for southwestern Nigeria reported by the 1981-82 NFS--i.e., abroad-peaked fertility schedule with little variation in fertility between the ages of 20 and 35 (NationalPopulation Bureau, 1984, Table 5.12).Age-specific rates for urban and rural areas are almost identical. The primary difference is themore rapid decline in fertility in urban areas for women 40-44 and 45-49. This sharper decline of fertilityrates for older women in urban areas was found throughout Nigeria in the 1981-82 NFS (NationalPopulation Bureau, 1984, Table 5.12).21