This paper uses data from the Demographic and Health Surveys to examine the current status of fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa, including the extent to which fertility decline has stalled. Among the two dozen countries covered by multiple surveys, 22 have initiated fertility transition, and a third of these countries have experienced stalling of fertility decline. We study the links between changes in contraceptive use, fertility preferences, and socioeconomic development (as reflected in changes in women's education, infant and child mortality, and real per-capita economic growth) and fertility decline and stalling. Changes in the measures of socioeconomic development are all related to the likelihood of stalling. We also analyze determinants of age-specific fertility rates in urban and rural places, and assess future prospects for fertility decline in the region. Progress in increasing women's educational attainment and in reducing infant and child mortality are identified as key factors contributing to sustained fertility decline.

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This report examines contraceptive behavior and abortion among women residing in Kinshasa, Zaire's capital city, with particular emphasis on women's employment and education. A data set collected in 1990 covering 2,399 women of reproductive age was used. While the practice of contraception is a common event in Kinshasa, dominated by the rhythm method, the use of modern contraceptives remains limited, but is on the rise. Induced abortion is reported by 15 percent of the ever-pregnant women in the survey. Women's employment and education are strongly linked to contraceptive use and abortion, and differences in the incidence of abortion by schooling and employment status appear to play an important role in contributing to corresponding observed differences in fertility. Modern contraceptives and induced abortion appear to be used as complementary fertility-control strategies in Kinshasa, and analyses of the findings suggest that better-educated women employed in the modern sector are most likely to be in the forefront of the contraceptive revolution.

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Sub-Saharan Africa was the last major part of the developing world to experience fertility decline, and fertility in the region remains high compared to fertility in Asia and Latin America. Correspondingly, women's education, known to be an important factor related to fertility via multiple pathways, is comparatively low in the region. Numerous studies have documented the importance of increasing women's education as a key variable contributing to fertility decline in the developing world. This paper uses aggregated data to examine the role of increasing women's educational attainment in the ongoing fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa, in conjunction with other socioeconomic changes such as declining infant and child mortality and changes in economic well-being. In addition, detailed patterns of fertility differences by educational attainment are also examined across countries using individual-level data, highlighting the significant role in fertility transition of increasing secondary and higher education.