%T Differences in Fertility between Urban and Rural Nigeria
%A Bas Schuitema
%D 2020
%L theses_frw3229
%X This research has attempted to find out why rural fertility rates are substantially higher than those in urban regions of Nigeria. Little contemporary work has been written on rural versus urban fertility differentials in Nigeria. Lowering the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), especially in rural areas, is key in limiting the immense population growth Nigeria is projected to go through. The Demographic & Health Survey (DHS), a cross-sectional survey on health and demographic indicators, was used to test key determinants by method of quantitative statistical analysis. The theoretical framework has identified a number of background determinants of fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and how these determinants differ between rural and urban areas. These have been tested with Poisson regression. It was found that the chosen background determinants account for a large portion of the difference between rural and urban fertility, although a small difference remains. The difference going from 31.4% (in 2008), 35.5% (in 2013) and 35% (in 2018) to 4%, 5.4% and 6.4% respectively, when accounting for differences in the background determinants. Differences in educational level and wealth are especially important for the difference in fertility between rural and urban Nigeria. To a lesser extent, child mortality and religion also contribute to the difference.