Education and Adolescent Fertility: A Multilevel Cross-Sectional Analysis

Abstract

The steady decline in global adolescent fertility rate masks poor performance in many countries and regions. High levels of adolescent fertility rate still persist in many Sub-Saharan Africa countries. This study examines the effects of education on adolescent fertility across regions and over selected periods of time. The main objective of the study is to ascertain if the effect of education on adolescent fertility varies with regions and time. The simple econometric analysis conducted using global, SSA and OECD countries' data in 2000, 2010 and 2014, revealed remarkable results. The three data sets employed shows different but consistent effects of education on adolescent fertility over the three different periods. Education had a negative and significant effect on adolescent fertility in all the estimations. However, the effect of education was found to be highest in Sub-Saharan Africa region. In view of the fact that female secondary education is still very low in the region, policies that promote girl child education up to secondary school level will go a long way in addressing the challenge of high adolescent fertility rate in Sub-Sahara Africa.