Ghana’s fertility rate on a decline

• Posted on December 11, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The average number of children that would be born to a Ghanaian woman over her lifetime, measured as the country’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR), has been on a steady decline over the past few years.

According to the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey for 2014, fertility rates among Ghanaian women dropped from 6.4 in 1988 to 4.2 in 2014.

This means that the Ghanaian woman is more likely to bear less number of children now than she would some few years ago.

Same is true for the fact that over the period, the majority of mothers are having the number of children they want, which seems to be—as best one can judge—two.

With more women taking up jobs in the corporate world, child bearing has become a major issue for families who do not have the luxury of combining jobs and caring for babies.

The 2014 Demographic Health Survey is the sixth round in a series of population and health surveys conducted in Ghana as part of the global Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Programme.

The survey is a national representative data of the health status of women and men in their reproductive age and children under age five.

According to the report, if fertility were to remain constant at current levels, a woman from Ghana would bear an average of 4.2 children in her lifetime.

Experts say fertility rates, whether high or low, impact economic growth, cultural stability and more. The critical question, however, is: at what stage of either decline or growth does it become problematic?

What is of importance to many, however,  is not the rate itself, but rather changes in the rate and how dramatic they happen.

A school of thought suggests that low fertility itself is not a bad phenomenon, but they argue that when fertility falls, a generation is smaller than the one that came before and struggles to support retirees. Still, if that new rate holds, the population can stabilise over time.

Another suggests that gradually declining population sizes might be ideal for the environment and stability, adding that gradually growing populations, on the other hand, might also be good if they generate dynamism and economic growth.

In Ghana, the rule seems to be that women want one child less than they are having. A mix of social and economic reasons comes into play in determining the number of children a couple want to have.

Mavis, a mother of one, is uncertain if she wants to have any more children, considering her current financial status to care for an additional member of the family.

“I might consider having another child in the future, but for now, it is hell combining work, school and caring for a child.”, she said

-The Finder