Region of residence and fertility in Nigeria

Motlatso Rampedi, University of the Witwatersrand

Nigeria has the fifth highest Total Fertility Rate in Sub-Saharan Africa at 5.7. A great deal of demographic research has been conducted on explaining fertility trends in Nigeria, however, few have attempted to explain the causes behind Nigeria’s stalling fertility decline. Fertility reduction policies and programmes continue to be targeted at entire populations where as the fertility crisis is region specific. The objective of this study is to identify regional differences in fertility in an effort to assisting policy makers to focus fertility reduction policies on specific regions. There is a socioeconomic disparity by region of residence in Nigeria, while socio-demographic characteristics are important, region is also a fundamental determinant of fertility. Using a sample size of 38 948 women aged 15-49 derived from the 2013 NDHS and the Poisson regression model for analysis, the study expects to find a positive relationship between region of residence and fertility in Nigeria.