Two Aspects of Fertility Behavior in South Africa

Abstract

In this article we analyze two aspects of female fertility using unit record data from South Africa. We examine the effect of individual, household, and community characteristics on the age at first conception and the number of pregnancies for a national sample of women. The segmented nature of theeconomy of South Africa allows us to study differences in fertility patterns among the different socioeconomic classes and across the different races. 1 While much has been said about fertility behavior of women in sub-Saharan Africa, an analysis of the fertility patterns of South African women is significantly absent. 2 In this article we attempt to fill this gap in the literature. The first aspect of fertility behavior that we examine is the age at first conception. In addition to the significant biological components associated with the age at first conception there are economic and nonbiological factors that affect the probability of conceiving by influencing the choices that women make (including choices regarding birth control and other family-planning strategies). Age at first conception is modeled using a hazard model. Of particular importance is the effect of the highest level of education attained on the age at first conception. The estimation results show that the more educated a woman is, the higher is the age at first conception subject to a threshold level of education. There are no significant racial differences in the age at first conception. The second aspect of fertility examined is the number of times a woman has been pregnant. Economic theories of fertility assumethatparentsoptimally choose the number of children they want to have, taking into account the costs and benefits associated with a given number of births, including the costs of avoiding unwanted births. Assuming that no pregnancy is unwanted, the number of times a woman is pregnant over her reproductive age can