Marriage age, fertility behaviour and women’s empowerment in Nigeria

Bola Lukman Solanke, Obafemi Awolowo University

This study examines the influence of marriage age on women’s fertility behaviour and empowerment. Data were extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. The chi-square statistic and multinomial logistic regression were applied using Stata version 12. Results show that among the women: 26.7% married at age 14 years or less; 38.2% had high fertility; and empowerment was poorest in the north-western zone. Results of multivariate models show that one additional year delay in marriage age multiplies the odds of low fertility by 38.8% (rrr=1.3887, p<0.05) in the interval 15-19 years; and by 46.9% in the interval 20-24 years (rrr=1.4696, p<0.05). Result further show that one additional year delay in marriage age multiplies the odds of high empowerment by 7.1% (rrr=1.0710, p>0.05) in the interval 15-19 years; and by 40.2% (rrr=1.4023, p<0.05) in the interval 20-24 years. Marriage age has significant influence on women’s fertility behaviour and empowerment.