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Contradictions in Nigeria's Fertility Transition: The Burdens and Benefits of Having People

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  • Daniel Jordan Smith

Abstract

Nigeria appears to be experiencing a transition to lower fertility. Based on ethnographic research, this article shows how Nigerians navigate a paradoxical political‐economic and cultural context, wherein they face powerful pressures both to limit their fertility and to have relatively large families. The main argument advanced here is that Nigerians' fertility behavior must be understood in the context of the ways that parenthood, children, family, and kinship are inextricably intertwined with how people survive in a political economy organized around patron‐clientism. Despite the fact that fertility transition is widely associated with broad processes of modernization and development, ordinary Nigerians experience the pressures to limit fertility in terms of a failed economy, development disappointments, and personal hardship–even while they see relatively smaller families as essential if they are to educate their children properly and adapt to a changing society.

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  • Daniel Jordan Smith, 2004. "Contradictions in Nigeria's Fertility Transition: The Burdens and Benefits of Having People," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 221-238, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:30:y:2004:i:2:p:221-238
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2004.011_1.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Milazzo, Annamaria, 2014. "Son preference, fertility and family structure : evidence from reproductive behavior among Nigerian women," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6869, The World Bank.
    2. Pedzisai Ndagurwa & Clifford Odimegwu, 2019. "Decomposition of Zimbabwe’s stalled fertility change: a two-sex approach to estimating education and employment effects," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 35-63, March.
    3. Soeren J Henn & James A Robinson, 2023. "Africa's Latent Assets," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 9-34.
    4. Dieudonne Ndaruhuye Muhoza, 2019. "The heterogeneous effects of socioeconomic and cultural factors on fertility preferences: evidence from Rwanda and Kenya," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 347-363, December.
    5. Benedict Ogbemudia Imhanrenialena & Wilson Ebhotemhen & Anthony Aziegbemin Ekeoba & Andrew Asan Ate, 2023. "Exploring how unemployment and grandparental support influence reproductive decisions in sub-Saharan African countries: Nigeria in focus," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Nkechi Owoo & Samuel Agyei-Mensah & Emily Onuoha, 2015. "The effect of neighbourhood mortality shocks on fertility preferences: a spatial econometric approach," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(6), pages 629-645, July.
    7. Ann Garbett & Brienna Perelli‐Harris & Sarah Neal, 2021. "The Untold Story of 50 Years of Adolescent Fertility in West Africa: A Cohort Perspective on the Quantum, Timing, and Spacing of Adolescent Childbearing," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(1), pages 7-40, March.

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