Marital Dissolution, Repartnering, and the Realization of Fertility Desires in sub-Saharan Africa

Ben Malinga John, University of Malawi
Sara Yeatman, University of Colorado Denver

Recent research has found that marital histories contribute to substantial variation in fertility across sub-Saharan Africa. The classic assumption underlying this finding is that it is driven almost entirely by differences in exposure time due to time spent out of union. In contexts of high marital turnover and quick times to remarriage as is common in much of the region, however, this may not explain all the variation. Differences in fertility desires and changes in those desires over time, instead, might contribute to differences in fertility. In this paper, we use nationally representative data from 34 sub-Saharan African countries to examine whether observed variation by marital history is due to (i) differences in family size goals or (ii) differences in the realization of those goals. We then examine whether women’s union histories are associated with a divergence in their current demand for children from their original ideals.

Keywords: Fertility, Families, Unions and Households, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

See extended abstract.