Etienne van de Walle

Urban French Mortality in the Nineteenth Century

Summary Following population reconstructions, age-specific death rates and life tables are computed for five-year periods during 1816-1905 for the three largest urban departements of France. During the early decades of the period, life expectancy at birth in the urban departements is about five to ten years lower than that of France as a whole. At some point after the mid-century, the gap in each of the three is reduced. However, the timing of accelerated mortality reduction varies considerably and appears to be related to the timing of improvements in water supply and sewerage. This inference is supported by cross-sectional and time series records on causes of death. In Bouches-du-Rhone, where water-support systems were not modernised until the 1890s, life expectancy in 1871-90 was only 1-5 years higher than in 1816-45; and water- and food-borne diseases account for a major amount of its disadvantage relative to the other departements. A striking tendency is revealed for mortality gains after mid-century...

Fertility Transition, Conscious Choice, and Numeracy*

One of the preconditions of the fertility transition, as stated by A.J. Coale, is that reproductive decisions must be within the calculus of conscious choice. It is suggested that the change in mentality which leads to family limitation includes “numeracy about children,” a clear notion of what family size ought to be and the awareness of individuals of where they stand with respect to the norm. The article explores the hypothesis that numeracy about children appeared historically in various times and places, and that the conceptualization of family size was a necessary condition for adopting family limitation.

Polygyny and Fertility Among the Sereer of Senegal

The population laboratory of Ngayokheme, in Senegal, has been observed longitudinally since 1962. Information on marital status at the time of birth (rather than at the time of a survey) is used to examine the effect of polygyny on fertility. Although plural marriages are less fertile and the rank order of the wife has an effect, the mechanism appears to operate through the age difference of the spouses and the greater likelihood of temporary separate residence in the case of polygynous marriages. An examination of birth intervals suggests that the lower fecundity of older men, rather than a reduction of the frequency of intercourse, is the main factor. However, there is little relation between the fertility of different wives of the same polygynists.

Norms and Behaviour in Burkinabe Fertility

In this paper a combination of methods is used to investigate the determinations of birth-interval length in a single city in Burkina Faso. 1st a multi-round survey provided accurate measurement of dates of reproductive events. Secondly open-ended interviews with a sub- sample of women from the survey were tape-recorded and transcribed. In order to disentangle the direct and indirect biological and behavioral determinants of birth-interval length 7 series of hazards models were estimated. These results were compared with womens perceptions of the same relationships revealed in the in-depth interviews. The lesson the authors draw is that no single data-collection strategy can provide answers to all questions of interest. The multi-round survey provides accurate information on actual behavior but at great cost. The in- depth interviews enable the investigator to study norms and motivations but this method is impractical for data collection for a large representative sample. Combining the 2 strategies can yield insights that may enhance the effectiveness of program interventions. (authors)

Household dynamics in a Belgian village, 1847-1866.

on their secular fertility decline during the second half of the nineteenth century. As the nominal census and vital registration data are opened up to scholars, the demographic transition should increasingly come under scrutiny in countries where the statistics were accurate and complete. As we shall see, Belgium had an uncommonly good data system, suitable for this purpose, by the time its marital fertility started declining. The demographic transition occurred in a context of economic and social transfor-

Mortalité de l'enfance au XIXe siècle à Paris et dans le département de la Seine

RESUMEN Durante el sigh XIX, los datos relativos a la mortalidad infantil en la region parisina, resultan erroneos a causa del envio en provincia de muchos nihos, para ser criados por nodrizas; como consecuencia de ello, el numero de defunciones (numerador) aparecia reducido y el de nacimientos (denominador) quedaba igual. Los errores son bastante importantes y las correciones no pueden ser mas que aproximadas : la informacion censal no es suficientemente segura para eliminar esos niňos tanto en el numerador como en el denominador. Luego de efectuar las correciones necesarias, el autor llega a una tasa de mortalidad infantil femenina de 190 a 200 %( entre 1816-1820 y 1881-1885, valor superior al admitido generalmente сото tambien superior al de Francia en la misma epoca. Solamente a fines del siglo XIX, la mortalidad infantil disminuyo en la region parisina.

Birthspacing and Abstinence in Sub-Saharan Africa

Long intervals between births are the norm throughout Sub-Saharan Africa; they are considered necessary to ensure the health of the mother and her child. Women who do not bear their children far enough apart are viewed negatively by the community, as experience has shown that a new pregnancy can compromise the health of the suckling child. The underlying rationale for spacing births is to keep as many children alive as possible in order to achieve a large family. In this sense, the impetus for birthspacing in most of Africa is pronatalist in nature, the very opposite of practicing contraception to limit family size. Among the populations of the region, there is a widespread belief that traditional practices-in particular, more or less prolonged postpartum abstinence-adequately meet the spacing needs of couples. As a result, attempts to introduce family planning programs by stressing the need for contraception to promote birthspacing have not met with great success as a rule. Until recently, findings from fertility surveys carried out in developed countries had led demographers to believe that most couples were not efficient at spacing births. However, the fact that many African cultures observed taboos on intercourse during the postpartum period was well documented in the anthropological literature. After the publication of Culture and Human Fertility in 1954,1 demographers began to speculate that there might be populations in Africa that were spacing their births, if not consciously, then at least in conformity with an implicit rationality reinforced by the social system. In 1977, John and Pat Caldwell published a seminal study of the Yoruba of Nigeria that contributed greatly to an understanding of the role of sexual abstinence as a fertility determinant in Africa.2 They reported that the Yoruba almost universally observe taboos on postpartum intercourse, which often last up to three years after a birth; typically, the taboo is maintained for six months after the end of breastfeeding. According to Yoruba informants, postpartum abstinence enhances the health of the suckling child by ensuring that a new pregnancy will not force the mother to wean the child too soon, and also preserves the mothers health by allowing her time to rest after a birth. The Yoruba also believe that coitus during breastfeeding is harmful because it allows sperm to enter the blood of the nursing mother, thereby poisoning her milk. (Interestingly, the celebrated Greek physician Galen, among others, held the same belief.3) In many other African societies, traditional lore has directly associated the early resumption of intercourse after a birth with various childhood diseases. Kwashiorkor and marasmus, diseases that are caused by protein or calorie deficiency, are often attributed to the quality of the mothers milk, which is considered to be compromised by intercourse. Similarly, episodes of diarrhea among children, which occur frequently during weaning or when women start giving supplementary foods, are often believed to result from the premature resumption of intercourse. These widely held beliefs have contributed to the survival of the practice of postpartum abstinence, and indeed data from the World Fertility Surveys (WFS) confirm that the taboo against intercourse is still widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the duration of abstinence varies across the region. Evidence from anthropological writings suggests that the Yoruba observe a particularly prolonged period of abstinence compared with other Sub-Saharan populations.4 Cultures that observe the taboo can be divided into three major groups according to the duration of the abstinence period.5 The first group includes those populations that resume intercourse soon after a birth; among these are the many Muslims who interpret Koranic tradition as imposing abstinence for 40 days. (It is particularly difficult to interpret the Muslim prohibition against intercourse as being a means of delaying the arrival of the next child; rather, the taboo is observed because women are considered to be unclean during the postpartum period, just as they are thought to be unclean during menstruation.) The second group consists mainly of societies in East Africa, where abstinence lasts for between 40 days and one year. And the third group, which includes the non-Muslim populations of western and central Africa, practices abstinence for more than one year. WFS data also indicate that there is considerable variation within countries in the duration of the abstinence period. For example, postpartum abstinence lasts from seven to 31 months in Ghana and from 11 to 22 months in Cameroon. If one trusts the earlier reports of anthropologists, the taboos on sex following a birth are probably shorter now than they were in the past, suggesting that the tradition is eroding. The spread of Islam in Africa, modernization, urbanization and more widespread education are factors contributing to the erosion of the custom. It is certain that the practice of postpartum abstinence is more likely to be encountered in cultures where the conjugal link is traditionally weak, where polygyny exists and where the extended family prevails. In any event, the responsibility for observing sexual taboos falls to the women. Male sexual behavior is not strongly conditioned either by a concern for proper birthspacing or by a regard for the quality of the mothers milk; consequently, men do not abstain from sexual relations to the same extent as do their wives. Among Yoruba couples who practice monogamy but observe abstinence, husbands tend to look outside of their marriage for partners Etienne van de Walle is professor of sociology and chairman of the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Francine van de Walle is a research associate at the Center.

An approach to the study of fertility in Nigeria

The present paper attempts an answer to the following question: taking the 1952-53 census which constitutes the best source of demographic information on Nigeria to date what useful information on vital trends may be derived from it? In the absence of migration the age distribution of a country is determined entirely by its past fertility and mortality. We shall consider at a later point the importance of mortality in shaping the age distribution. At this stage it is sufficient to state that fertility influences the age distribution in the most marked fashion and that a large proportion of young children reflects as high fertility in the recent past. Conversely a low proportion of children is the result of low past fertility. Thus it is normal to look at the 1952-53 age distribution of Nigeria and its parts for information on the fertility of that country. (excerpt)

Polygamie et fécondité en milieu rural sénégalais

L’objectif de cette etude est d’examiner certains determinants des differences de fecondite entre les femmes vivant en union monogame et les femmes vivant en union polygame (epouses de rang 1 a 3 +) dans deux regions rurales du Senegal. La variable etudiee est une variable dichotomique qui correspond a la survenue ou non d’une naissance au cours des 12 mois qui ont precede le recensement. L’analyse de donnees transversales pour les regions rurales de Tambacounda et Kolda, tirees du recensement senegalais de 1988, nous a permis de tester cinq hypotheses et d’obtenir les resultats suivants : tout d’abord, la fecondite de chaque epouse diminue avec le nombre de femmes dans l’union ; ensuite, l’ epouse de rang le plus eleve a plus de chances d’avoir donne naissance au cours de l’annee precedente que ses coepouses ; en ce qui concerne l’âge du mari, il a un effet plus important chez les monogames que chez les polygames, pour lesquels l’impact n’est substantiel qu’apres 60 ans ; la survenue d’une naissance chez une femme au cours de l’annee precedant le recensement augmente la probabilite qu’une coepouse ait aussi eu un enfant ; enfin, la presence dans l’union d’une premiere epouse plus âgee ayant depasse la periode d’âge fecond n’a pas d’effet sur la fecondite de ses coepouses.

POUR UNE HISTOIRE DEMOGRAPHIQUE DE L'AVORTEMENT

Van de Walle (Etienne).- Рог una historia demografica del aborto Las fuentes sobre el aborto en Occidente antes del siglo XIX no son estadisticas. Li- terarias, medicas, religiosas о legales, estas fuentes revelan poco sobre el peso demografico del fenomeno. No obstante, permiten realizar un estudio de frecuencia de los contextos en los que se menciona el aborto: por ejemplo, estado civil de la madre, motivacion, aproba- cion o desaprobacion del autor de la citacion o eficacia probable de las tecnicas utilizadas. Tambien permiten comparar la frecuencia de referencias al aborto con la frecuencia de ref- erencias a procedimientos rivales como el infanticidio. La conclusion de la revision de estas fuentes rudimentarias es que no existen razones para creer que el aborto fuera en el pasado un procedimiento inseguro, peligroso o raro, sin peso demografico. Los procedimientos suaves eran probablemente poco eficaces; las medidas desesperadas se reservaban a las jovenes abandonadas y a las prostitutas.