Migration and fertility in Burkina Faso: evidence from the 2000 Survey on migration/urbanisation and environment

Salahudin S. Muhidin, Université de Montréal
Jacques Ledent, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (CIED)

This study represents one of the study attempts on life course analysis of migration and fertility using data from a developing country. The analyses are based on the EMIUB data, which was conducted in Burkina Faso in 2000 by the collaboration of UERD, CERPOD and Université de Montreal. The study utilizes samples of 4,568 women aged 15-64 years. The respondents had provided completed biographic histories on fertility, residential movements, marital status, and social-economies activities. Four general hypotheses, namely selectivity, disruption, adaptation and socialization, are tested in the analysis for investigating the relationsip between migration and fertility. The results shows that the effect of migration and urbanization is strong, both before and after controlling for the effects of certain covariates (i.e. age, cohort, marital and working statuses, education, and duration of residency). Continuously urban residents exhibit fertility rates that are about lower than rural women.