Fertility in East Africa countries

Abstract: This paper examined and identifies the important determinants of Fertility decline in East Africa countries using a panel data set from world development indicator data base (WDI) for eight selected East African countries between 1998 and 2010. Panel regression methods were used to determine the impact of socioeconomic determinants on fertility. Fertility rate reduced in a slow pace during the period 1998 and 2010 in all selected East Africa countries. The results show that among socioeconomic factors urban population growth, women secondary school enrolments, HIV prevalence rate, adolescent fertility rate and inflation rate are the dominant significant determinants of fertility rate. However, one of the most unexpected finding in this study concerns the relationship between infant mortality rate and fertility rate. Infant mortality rate negatively related to fertility. The results found in this paper confirm the interpretation that modernization has created the improvement of socioeconomic opportunities which were important for the fertility decline. However, the magnitude of socioeconomic factors effect on fertility levels seems not strong as expected, there is a need to manipulate the socioeconomic factors operate through proximate determinants in order to have further impact of socioeconomic factors on fertility. Therefore, socioeconomic intervention policies should revise and implement to achieve further reduction of fertility in East Africa countries.