Title:	The Demographic Transition and Development in Africa
Authors:	Charles Teller Assefa Hailemariam William Butz
Keywords:	The Demographic Transition
Issue Date:	2011
Publisher:	Springer
Description:	Ethiopia is indeed unique. Geographically and culturally diverse, this huge country displays among the best and the worst demographic and development outcomes in Africa. How can it be that all the health, nutrition, and education objectives in the Millennial Development Goals, save one (maternal mortality), appear to be on track (in 2010) for the year 2015 – among the best prospects in Africa – while the percentage of illiterate women and the number of food-insecure persons are the highest on the Continent? In the international setting, little about Ethiopia is average. As a promising setting for research, Ethiopia also stands apart. The demographic transition’s early and latest phases contrast starkly across rural and urban areas, as starkly as anywhere on the globe. The country has become a natural laboratory for studying how persons and families respond to this palpable disequilibrium. Looking beyond research toward policy, Ethiopia could also become a laboratory for realizing the human investment opportunities generated predictably during the demographic transition. Ethiopia’s uniqueness fascinates the authors of this timely book. From the first national census in 1984 through surveys of labor force, migration, health, gender, and development in the last decade, they document trends and highlight disparities in a broad array of outcomes: contraceptive prevalence; fertility trends and differentials; children’s and women’s nutritional status; food insecurity; child stunting; infant, under-five, and maternal mortality; temporary, circular, and rural-urban migration and urbanization; social and occupational mobility; unemployment; and poverty. Beyond describing these characteristics and outcomes, these papers investigate correlates and causes of the documented trends and variations. This search for possible policy levers includes: place of residence; land tenure security; age at first marriage; household structure; women’s education, literacy and decision making autonomy; labor force participation and off-farm employment; access to arable land, draft animals and adult labor; savings, assets, and access to credit; maternal health and family planning services; resettlement and urbanization. These eclectic outcomes and policy influences promise breadth. Prominent sociological and demographic theories – Malthus, Boserup, K. Davis, Adepoju, Caldwell, Bilsborrow – provide the focus. After bringing existing theories to the data, the authors argue for an expanded demographic transition theory, including demographic responses to poverty, environmental and climate vulnerability, life course aspirations, and delayed family formation norms. This book is one result of nearly 20 years of collaborative research and training. A core of rigorously trained demographic researchers, from whom this book’s authors are drawn, is another result. In coming years, these researchers will feed the demand for more and better data, even as they help to provide it. Indeed, the surveying and research capacity embodied in these Ethiopians will in time surpass this volume in value. The research payoffs to Professor Teller’s and Professor Assefa’s investments in their colleagues should persist for decades. One can hope that the policy payoffs to accelerating the demographic transition and capturing the potential of the resulting demographic dividend and improved human well-being will be as large. This book points the way.
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/50938
ISBN:	978-90-481-8918-2
Appears in Collections:	Population Studies

Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.