Women's Education: An Important Tool for Birth Reduction? A GMM - Poisson Regression Model Approach

Ali Yedan

doi:10.14738/assrj.71.7673

Abstract

Burkina Faso is a country with a shallow level of woman’s education. However, it is one of the most fertile countries. This paper analyzes whether the education of women reduces the number of births and the Total Fertility Rate in Burkina Faso. It also predicts the average number of births per woman and the Total Fertility Rate if women were better educated. Using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, I model the two-stage Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) with the Heckman model and Poisson regression. The results show that the high fertility in Burkina Faso is mainly due to the low level of the woman’s education. The post-primary education increases the age at first birth. The number of births per woman would be decreased in the quarter and the Total Fertility Rate would pass from 5.4 to 3.6 if all women had at least completed the primary school. If all women had at least an incomplete secondary school, the number of births per woman would halve and the Total Fertility Rate would become 2.0. The government would do better to improve the education system allowing a good education for all, especially for women if it intends to reduce fertility.

Highlights

For centuries, the population growth and fertility issues have been at the center of debates and discussions among economists, demographers, statisticians, specialists, religious, politicians, farmers and ordinary citizens; each analyzing in their way
In the models 1, the various educational attainments as dummy variables are used as covariates while in the models 2, the highest year of education post primary as a continuous variable is used as a covariate for the woman’s education
The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether the education of women reduces the number of births per woman and the Total Fertility Rate in Burkina Faso

Summary

Introduction

The population growth and fertility issues have been at the center of debates and discussions among economists, demographers, statisticians, specialists, religious, politicians, farmers and ordinary citizens; each analyzing in their way. Education, as a significant investment in human capital, could be a key factor in fertility issues. This paper tries to analyze the effect of woman’s education on fertility in Burkina Faso. This article examines whether the education of women reduces the number of births per woman and the Total Fertility Rate in Burkina Faso. These debates on fertility and population growth among economists and demographers have not started now. While Malthusian Theory, being proven false and sharply criticized by multiple economists, nowadays, some Asian countries like China continue to adopt birth control policies and some politicians and specialists believe in the misdeeds of the high population growth

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Conclusion