Population policy and childbearing behavior in Ghana since the late 1960 s : An Individual level perspective

Due to the high population growth rate in the mid-20th century, the government of Ghana introduced population policies to reduce the population growth rate. Encouraging girls’ education and increasing contraceptive use were the two main policy measures to reduce population growth. Subsequently, the total fertility rate (TFR) declined rapidly from 6.0 in 1985 to 4.3 in 2003. Using 2003 Ghana Demographic Health Survey data, this study seeks to examine the effect or non-effect of the policies using individual level data and more accurate measures than the TFR. The estimated result shows that the population policies may have had some effect on fertility. We observed a mixed pattern relationship between education and births in the earlier periods. From the 1990’s onwards, we observe that women with secondary and a higher level of education have a slower transition to the next birth or are less likely to have it at all. This effect grew stronger over time. We also observed that achieving even primary education had some effect on fertility, especially at higher parities.