Author: Virgina Delancey

Abstract

Much research has been directed toward discovering the determinants of fertility in Sub-saharan Africa. Much less research has attempted to analyze the consequences of high fertility and closely-spaced children. Yet, at the household level, the demand for children should reflect the consequences of family size and child spacing. If the consequences are positive, the demand for children should be high. If they are negative, the demand for children should be low.

The consequences of high fertility and closely-spaced children, at the household level in sub-saharan Africa, may be divided into two broad categories of : (1) health-related consequences, such as child or maternal malnutrition, morbidity, and mortality, and (2) socioeconomic-related consequences related to household income, saving, labor supply of both children and mothers, occupation, education, land tenure, and migration. In reality, the two categories interact with each other.