Many Wives, Many Children: Fertility by Age, Sex, Rank, and Number of Wives in Rural Senegal

Etienne van de Walle, University of Pennsylvania
Solene Lardoux, University of Pennsylvania

The fertility of polygyny is usually investigated with survey data where sample size restricts the analysis to a man and two wives; wives past the childbearing ages are not included, even though their presence may affect the fertility of younger co-wives. This paper examines all co-resident polygynous households in two regions of Senegal in the 1988 census. The data includes information on the household, the polygynous coresident unit, and each of its members; more than 10,000 polygynous marriages have been identified, including wives of rank up to 6. This file is analyzed with standard regression techniques, to investigate the determinants of fertility for both men and women. Covariates include ages of wives, husbands and other wives, wealth indicators, resident status, and education of the partners. The dependent variable consists of births during the previous year. Comparisons of fertility rates are made with monogamous pairs and with non-coresident polygynists.