Is fertility falling in Zimbabwe?

Area of Science:

• Demography
• Public Health
• Sociology

Background:

• Zimbabwe has a high contraceptive prevalence rate (43%) among married women.
• Previous observations suggested a sharp fertility decline in recent years.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine fertility trends in Zimbabwe.
• To analyze the impact of contraception on fertility.
• To understand factors influencing contraceptive use.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from multiple Zimbabwe surveys.
• Focused on birth histories from the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey.
• Employed multivariate analysis to assess contraception's effect on fertility.

Main Results:

• The fertility decline in Zimbabwe is modest, not sharp.
• The decline is primarily concentrated among high-order births.
• Multivariate analysis revealed no statistically significant effect of contraception on fertility.

Conclusions:

• Pronatalist attitudes in Zimbabwe contribute to low contraceptive uptake among women of reproductive age.
• The observed fertility decline may be influenced by factors other than widespread contraceptive use.