Excess Fertility and Infant Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

Jason Wencak, Bowling Green State University

Prior literature on the infant mortality of excess fertility is scarce. Because of the difference in ideal number of children between rural and urban families, I expect parity to function differently by urbanicity with ideal number of children to moderate the effect of parity on infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. I will analyze the extent of the gap in infant mortality between excess and limited fertilty, and the extent of the rural-urban divide; assessing the degree of an "urban advantage" or "urban penalty". The data used for this study are from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Phase V Individual Recode File for Niger (2006), Ethiopia (2005), and Namibia (2006-07). I find support in my preliminary findings for the urban-rural divide in child health outcomes. For three health indicators, a higher proportion of the rural population is worse off for each indicator in each country compared to the urban population.