Educational attainment and the transition to motherhood among young women in Ethiopia

Yohannes Dibaba Wado, Ipas, Ethiopia

This study examines the effects of changes in educational attainment over the past decade on youth transitions to motherhood in Ethiopia. The study used data from the three rounds of Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) conducted in 2000, 2005 and 2011.Data were analyzed using STATA. Analysis involved Kaplan Meier survival curves and multivariate cox proportional hazards regression. Results show that young women’s educational attainment improved from 2000 and 2011 in Ethiopia, and this was followed by increases in age at marriage although no significant declines in age at first birth was observed. As girl’s educational attainment improved, the differences between those educated to secondary and higher and those with lower or no education increased in terms of age at first birth. Young women with secondary or above education were significantly less likely to have given birth before age 24 compared to those with no education in 2011, but this association was not significant in 2000.