The News
Women with higher education levels in sub-Saharan Africa are leading the shift toward smaller family sizes, new research found.
A study analyzed data from more than a million women in 39 countries across the region between 1986-2022. Researchers found it was not only a woman’s personal educational attainment that reduced fertility rates — a known driver of demographic change — but also the broader influence of other women’s educational levels in her surroundings.
“Women with less education often follow the behaviors and norms of more educated women in their community,” a co-author of the study said, telling Semafor the findings were the first to quantify how this insight “can be used for education-specific fertility forecasting.”
The team, from institutions in Germany and Austria, hopes the study’s insights will help in the design of future family-planning programs.