Fertility in the northwest region of Namibia
Keywords:
fertility, proximate determinants of fertility, fam ily planning, NamibiaAbstract
The aim of this paper is to examine fertility in the Northwest Region of Namibia and the effects the principal proximate determinants have on fertility. The main data sources are the 1991 Population and Housing Census and the Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 1992. Indirect methods are used to estimate fertility, the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) and mortality on the basis of the census data and direct methods to calculate fertility from retrospective birth histories of NDHS data. The level of fertility is higher in the Northwest Region than in other regions of the country. The first principal proximate determinant, the marriage pattem, seems to sustain high fertility in the Northwest Region compared to the South and Central Regions, but not in respect to the Northeast Region. Postpartum insusceptibility is longer in the Northwest Region than in Namibia on average, but shorter than in the Northeast Region. The use of contraceptives is exceptionally low in the Northwest Region compared to the other regions. The ideal number of children is highest in the Northwest Region. The levels of infant and child mortality are relatively low in the Northwest Region and in Namibia on average.
