Levels, Patterns, Differentials and Trends of Male Fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. What Can We Learn from Demographic and Health Surveys?

Bruno D. Schoumaker, Université Catholique de Louvain

Although the role of men in fertility decisions and changes has received increased attention, the measurement of male fertility has remained an understudied research area, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this paper is to evaluate to what extent - and with which methods - DHS data in sub-Saharan Africa can be used to measure male fertility. Three types of data (date of last birth, number of children ever born, and list of household members) and three methods (event history analysis, crisscross method and own children method) are used to measure age-specific fertility rates, TFRs, rate ratios and fertility trends in a dozen of sub-Saharan African countries. Systematic comparisons are performed in order to evaluate the impact of data quality and assumptions on differences between methods.