Fertility Decline in Kinshasa

Bibliographic Data

ID4267589
AuthorsDavid Shapiro (0000-0002-0838-3910, Institute for Women's Policy Research, corresponding author)
Year1996
Volume50
Issue1
Pages89-103
Publication date1996-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-4728 • E-ISSN: 1477-4747
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0032472031000149066
PMID11609138
OpenAlexW1964922827
LanguageEN
Citations received9

This paper examines key socio-economic changes over the past 40 years in the lives of women in Kinshasa, Zaire, and how those changes relate to observed fertility behaviour. Data from surveys carried out in 1955, 1975, and 1990 are used to highlight the remarkable shift that has taken place in the educational attainment of women: in the 1950s the vast majority of adult women had no formal education, while by 1990 the median woman had been to secondary school. This dramatic shift was accompanied by several related changes, including delays in age at marriage and increased participation in the labour market. Total fertility, which was estimated at 7.5 in the 1950s and had not changed much by 1975, appears to have fallen more recently, by about 1.5 children or more. This decline in fertility appears to be closely linked to the improvements in secondary schooling for women in Kinshasa

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Educational attainment · Family planning · Fertility · Formal education · Geography · Population · Research methodology · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Total fertility rate · Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues · Demography · Global Maternal and Child Health · Migration, Identity, and Health · Psychology

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