Persistence of high fertility in tropical Africa: the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Type Journal Article - Population and Development Review
Title Persistence of high fertility in tropical Africa: the case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Author(s)
Volume 37
Issue 1
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2011
Page numbers 1-28
URL http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00388.x/pdf
Abstract
The article explores how geography, history, and society have shaped childbearing behaviors over the last half-century, and how they are now being reshaped by modernity and the exigencies of urban life, in the democratic Republic of the congo. the decline of prolonged postpartum abstinence and involuntary childlessness initially raised fertility to high levels (6–7 children per woman). more recently, socioeconomic differentials in fertility have emerged, suggesting that the country may be entering a phase of fertility decline. a full-blown transition, however, seems still a remote prospect. Supported both by cultural traditions and by economic rationality, congo's people remain largely convinced of the benefts of many children for their own and their kin's security. while an eventual fertility transition may be taken for granted, the article examines the many hurdles, contradictions, and tensions that will have to be overcome to achieve that outcome.

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