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Cameroon's slow fertility transition: A gender perspective
Jean Christophe Fotso1, John G Cleland2, Elihou O Adje1
1EVIHDAF.
Population Studies
|March 12, 2024
Summary
Men's attitudes do not appear to impede reproductive change in Cameroon. Despite high fertility and low contraceptive use, men's own family size desires, not their wives' perceptions, correlate with contraceptive use.
Area of Science:
- Demography
- Reproductive Health
- Sociology
Background:
- Cameroon exhibits high fertility and low contraceptive use, despite socio-economic advancements.
- Understanding factors influencing fertility decisions is crucial for reproductive health initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether men's attitudes have constrained the fertility transition in Cameroon.
- To analyze the influence of both husbands' and wives' fertility desires on contraceptive use.
Main Methods:
- Utilized five Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data.
- Compared trends in desired family size among young men and women.
- Analyzed matched monogamous couple data to assess desires to stop childbearing and contraceptive use.
Main Results:
- In 2018, average desired family size was 5.6 for men and 5.1 for women, a difference unchanged since 1998.
- Wives perceived husbands as more pronatalist than themselves, though similar proportions wanted to stop childbearing.
- Men's self-reported preferences, not wives' perceptions of husbands' preferences, were more strongly linked to contraceptive use.
Conclusions:
- Little evidence suggests men's attitudes impede reproductive change in Cameroon.
- Men's own fertility preferences are more influential on contraceptive use than perceived by their wives.
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