Fertility transitions in sub-Saharan Africa: a male perspective

Bruno D. Schoumaker, Université Catholique de Louvain

Male fertility has to a large extent been neglected in demographic research. Theoretical approaches of fertility transitions have long acknowledged the role of males in fertility behavior, but these theories have to large extent remained “in search of evidence”. The objective of this paper is to describe male fertility transitions across sub-Saharan Africa since the 1970s. The adapted own children method will be used with existing Demographic and Health Surveys and World Fertility surveys for two types of analyses : (1) male total fertility rates will be reconstructed since the late 1970s in around thirty sub-Saharan African countries; (2) Age patterns of male fertility and their changes in the course of the fertility transition will be described in the same countries. Patterns and changes among males will be contrasted with female experiences, and implications of differences across genders will be discussed.