Bongaarts' proximate determinants of fertility applied to group data from the Kenya Fertility Survey 1977/78

Abstract

SummaryThe effect of the intermediate fertility variables on marital fertility in Kenya is examined using Bongaarts' model on group data from the Kenya Fertility Survey 1977/78. The findings suggest that variations in the proportion married among the population, level of contraceptive use and post-partum lactational infecundability can account for much but not all of the observed marital fertility differentials. Modernization through education and urbanization has had offsetting effects on fertility, by reducing lactation and increasing contraception. However, the proportion using contraception, limited mainly to those with secondary and higher education or metropolitan residence, is too small to have an appreciable impact on the overall level of fertility. The low level of marital fertility observed particularly among the metropolitan, coast and Muslim categories of population may be attributed to the prevalence of venereal diseases and unreported contraception and induced abortion.