Fertility and child mortality levels among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria

Abstract

This study deals with fertility and child mortality levels and differentials among the Yoruba of Western Nigeria. It examines the relationship between modernization and fertility, and also between modernization and child mortality. The results indicate that as a result of modernization, traditional postnatal abstinence is breaking down while health conditions are becoming better among the Yoruba. In the short run it appears that increasing modernization may be related to increasing fertility. But in the long run, increasing modernization accompanied by the practice of family planning in Western Nigeria, may lead to reduced fertility which will be in agreement with the theory of the demographic transition. Health education aimed at improving infant feeding and nutrition may be as important as family planning practice in reducing 'fertility. High child survival is likely to be one of the factors leading to lower fertility as the results on the relationship between fertility and child mortality indicate.