Does education really matter? Fertility of educated women in Uganda

Betty Kyaddondo, Population Secretariat, Uganda
Melanie Channon, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing

Based on the 2011 UDHS, the paper sought to investigate the effect of education on parity progression taking into account confounding effects of socio-demographic variables. Contrary to the expectation that education reduces fertility, there was no significant correlation of education and parity progression throughout the regression analysis possibly because only 6 percent of women join higher education. Majority live in rural areas with limited access to quality education. Most women drop out before completing secondary school and remain in rural areas. Secondly, education becomes more significant with increasing parity and yet more Ugandan women, whether educated or not, desire to have at least four children. Age at first birth and desired number of children were the most significant factors for parity progression. Women empowerment and place of residence became significant with the increasing parity. Education does not strongly empower women to make concrete decisions about using contraceptives, thus, the persistent high birth rates.