Fertility and child mortality in rural Ethiopia : a comparative study of selected regions Gondar and Hararge

Abstract

This study presents the findings of fertility and child mortality analysis for agricultural households of two regions: the predominantly Amhara Christian region of Gondar, and the predominantly Oromo Moslem region of Hararge, based on the 1981 Rural Demographic Survey. The two regions were selected on the basis of prior study findings, that is, higher fertility and child mortality for Oromo Moslems than Amhara Christians in Arssi region. This study examines whether these differentials exist in other parts of the country. It was found that fertility and child mortality are high in both Gondar and Hararge. However, Hararge has significantly higher mean parity and child mortality than Gondar. One of the other important findings is lower mean parity and child mortality among literate women than illiterate women. In general, in the analysis of fertility and child mortality differentials, the results were found to be consistent with findings in Arssi region, and in other developing countries. In this study the underlying causes of the existing fertility and child mortality differentials between Gondar and Hararge, and population subgroups within the regions, is not fully explained due to data limitations and lack of detailed prior studies in the regions. Therefore, the study leaves some important questions to be answered in future studies. Show more