BACKGROUND
While overall fertility across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is still high, fertility rates have been declining among educated and wealthier women in many countries since the 1970s. It is not clear whether, five decades later, consistently lower fertility among better-off women represents a distinct fertility regime among this subpopulation.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether advantaged women (the best educated or wealthiest) in contemporary SSA have fertility characteristic of late (total fertility rate [TFR] 2.0–2.9) or mid-to-late (TFR 3.0–3.9) fertility transition levels.

METHODS
We use data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to calculate TFR for better-off women using six educational and wealth categories in 27 countries in SSA.

RESULTS
Women with completed secondary education (11% of the full sample) across SSA have late (2.0–2.9) or mid-to-late (3.0–3.9) TFR in 25 out of 27 sample countries (with an average TFR of 3.2). While better-educated women in higher-fertility countries (TFR>5) have somewhat higher fertility than their counterparts in lower-fertility settings (TFR<5), there is convergence towards similarly low fertility among highly educated women within countries with TFR <5.

CONCLUSIONS
Better-educated women across SSA today have fertility rates nearing late transition levels. Their fertility is only partly associated with the overall country fertility.



中文翻译：

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撒哈拉以南非洲富裕妇女的生育能力：整个地区接近晚期过渡水平（牙买加科克、克莱门汀罗西尔、朗基拉穆萨赞）

背景
虽然撒哈拉以南非洲 (SSA) 的总体生育率仍然很高，但自 1970 年代以来，许多国家受过教育和较富裕的女性的生育率一直在下降。目前尚不清楚，50 年后，富裕女性的生育率持续下降是否代表了这一亚群的独特生育制度。

目的
确定当代 SSA 中的优势女性（受过最好教育或最富有）是否具有晚期（总生育率 [TFR] 2.0-2.9）或中晚期（TFR 3.0-3.9）生育转变水平的生育特征。

方法
我们使用来自人口与健康调查 (DHS) 的数据，使用 SSA 中 27 个国家的六个教育和财富类别来计算富裕女性的 TFR。

结果
在 27 个样本国家中的 25 个国家（平均 TFR 为 3.2），在整个 SSA 中完成中等教育的女性（占全部样本的 11%）具有晚期（2.0-2.9）或中晚期（3.0-3.9）的 TFR。虽然高生育率国家 (TFR>5) 中受过良好教育的女性的生育率略高于低生育率环境中的女性 (TFR<5)，但在 TFR <5 的国家中，受过良好教育的女性生育率也同样低.

结论
如今，SSA 中受过良好教育的女性的生育率接近过渡后期水平。他们的生育率仅与整个国家的生育率部分相关。