The Onset of Fertility Transition in Rural West Africa: Evidence from Niakhar Demographic Surveillance System, Senegal

Valérie Delaunay, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
Agnès A. Adjamagbo, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
Pierre Levi, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
Adama Marra, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)

Fertility transition in Sub Saharan Africa has been shown in most countries. However, in West Africa, fertility levels in rural areas are still very high and contraceptive practice very low. In Senegal, the number of child per women 15-49 years was 5.7 in 1997, but the gap between urban and rural context is growing (4.3 vs. 6.7) Data used are coming from the Niakhar study area in rural Senegal, where a Demographic Surveillance System is running from several decades (since 1963 for 8 villages and 1983 for 30 villages). A reproductive health project aims to document trends in fertility and to understand the process of behavioral change in a population just engaged in the first stage of transition. Results show that fertility is declining specifically at young ages, age at marriage is rising, men become sexually active earlier and premarital births are more frequent in the younger generations.