Migration and Reproductive Behavior among Young Women in Kumasi, Ghana

Catherine N. Stiff, Brown University
Michael J. White, Brown University

Persistent high fertility and the receptivity of migrants to altering fertility behavior remain salient issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. Analysis of a small probability sample (n=150) of young women in two low income migrant receiving zones on the outskirts of Ghana's second largest city reveals that both rural-urban migrants and native urbanites exhibit awareness and approval of family planning. When socioeconomic controls are introduced in multivariate analysis, migrants are more likely to express approval of family planning. Moreover, a larger proportion of migrants than non-migrants report ever use of family planning, although migrants may tend to rely more on traditional methods of fertility control. Finally, migrants are no less prone to expressing an ideal family size, nor do they want more children than their urbanite peers. Such findings suggest that rural-urban migrants are receptive to family planning and may serve as conduits of fertility control back to rural areas.