The impact of women's schooling on fertility and contraceptive use: A study of fourteen Sub-Saharan African countries

This article examines the relationship between-female schooling and two behaviors--cumulative fertility and contraceptive use--in fourteen Sub-Saharan African countries where Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) have been conducted since the mid-1980s. Average levels of schooling among women of reproductive age are very low, from less than two years to six. Controlling for background variables, the last years of female primary schooling have a negative relation with fertility in about half the countries, while secondary schooling is associated with substantially lower fertility in all countries. Female schooling has a positive relationship with contraceptive use at all levels. Among ever-married women, husband's schooling exerts a smaller effect than does female schooling on contraceptive use and, in almost all cases, on fertility. Although the results suggest commonalities among these Sub-Saharan countries, they also reveal intriguing international differences in the impact of female schooling, which might reflect differences in the quality of schooling, labor markets, and family planning programs, among others.