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Primary Education and Fertility Rates in Southern Africa: Evidence from Before the Demographic Transition

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  • Manoel Bittencourt

    (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria)

Abstract

We investigate whether primary school completion has played any role on total fertility rates in all fifteen members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) between 1980 and 2009. The evidence, based on panel time-series analysis, suggests that primary education has indeed reduced fertility rates in the region, or that the community is already trading-off quantity for quality of children. The results are important not only because lower fertility, caused by education, implies more capital per worker, higher productivity and therefore higher growth rates, but also because - in accordance to the unified growth theory - they suggest that southern Africa, like other countries in the past, is experiencing its own transition from the Malthusian epoch into a sustained growth regime.

Suggested Citation

  • Manoel Bittencourt, 2014. "Primary Education and Fertility Rates in Southern Africa: Evidence from Before the Demographic Transition," Working Papers 201404, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pre:wpaper:201404
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; fertility; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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