Country statement : Sierra Leone

•

EXXlNOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA

Wor ki ng Group on Fertility Levels and Differentials in Africa and the Prospects for the Future

Addis Ababa, 18-22 December 1972

COUNTRY STATEMENT SIERRALEONE

M72-4251

Distr.

LIMITED

POP/INF/l08

5

December 1972 Original: ENGLISH

POP/INF/IOC' . COUNTRY STATEMENT : SIERRA LEXlNE

•

" " ~ • • , •." . j . •'. :. ". :>,•. _. ~ . .j ....^{A. • • • • • •}

Baokground: .} h'e ·rii.~.o.~!jili,eim fo.r the .polleotion of .opnv~n~i.onal . fertqi~y data, name l y

a

^{tho r ough} an d on-going sys t em for the re g1strat10n of ·b1 r t h s (and deaths) is absent in Sier ra Leon e. Although the re gistration of vital events has been performed for a, long time.now in.the Western area (whioh-i:noludes;':':Fre~(,..,m:;'''the _C~pital -an d"bY"-fa:r ·"ths··la:rgl'lst··ur'ban . oentre), yet for the rest of tlfli-Coun t ry"i t s pe r f o rmanos has on th e whole besn fragmentary... Even. in Fr eet o wn an d more';So-its surroundings there are reasons to·-'-Stiijp~c;t':that'~a: ·gqo:d'·a:mourit-'·o{;illider;';'x:ilp6~tifig:6rtlfe~~^", events exists. -".' ..>.'. . . .. '. . .

.

T h~ . ~;~h er sou~s ~f i nform~tio~ o~ '

i ;r ti li t y Olight to -ha ve'been' the 19 63 'Censu s , Sier ra Leon e ' s .f i r s t oomprehimsive national ,Cen sus . -, trnfcirtunately, 'b~oause er,th<3 mQUnting 'pr e s sure: at the time,to provide other mu oh ne eded informa t i on, questio ns 'on fertility were exol u de d

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(a)"

_,,:fuilj.r~Ft' .~e tho'dei .POPula'ti6n;'and

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.

^'.

Aooordingly,

t~ m'ethods: 'hai~-

^{'b eerl use d in generati ng 'fer'i i li}

t~

^{, '}

rates in Si er ra Leone:

, . L"'::':.' ..•i:; .. 'f~

,:,( b)

E stimil'teBtisin~ a:ge~ta f~m

^{'t'he::19 63 Census'}

~nd

^{a Su r vey}

Cond~ote(Wit hi n

fst

^{January. to 30:th} May~ 1970.'_ _. : .".'

_ ._ .. ,' r • '. , . ".. • ' . • ,l ••'-. • • . ; " ,' . " • ,"v.. ^~':',.

A. , St u dies fune on Fer t'nHy in Sierra Leone (2): , ." ,,;' "';" .. . .. ; c., '"

!., r ," ."

Lec'na

, ...

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^....- _....-...^~--_^..:, 1^{'- '. '}

. ';.1" ,I. . . . ' . .:,;', 't!-\ i'::: ~.;.i":j:: ~ . , ^{. :'}

Thomas E. Ibw, Jr . , "Ferti lity in Sier ra Leone," .::S~l~e~r:.ra~~~:::.

Geographioa r -;rourn a l, 1969, pp. 3 - 12

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^--

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, ,.

, "Family Planning Pat te r n s in Si e r r a Leone," Stu di e s

;--~--;:P~l- ann~ing, (Pop ~Co.unoil),

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.

^{.Oo.. t,ob er ,. 1911.,"PP'.,211 -,, ' ) 22. .._}

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(4)

in Family

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(2)Thomas.E-~ Ibw, ··Jr . , "Fei'tili t y 'and'Fam ily Planning'in'Si'erm L'oone,"

__..,_ St udie s in FamilY'Planni ng~'<Po P'LColUl;cil), AUgust'(·1971.1fo~ ."2 "' · '..

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_{._.••_}

.

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No'.'

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_, ^{p •}_{p .,...}^.:153_. ^',_-,^-_{--- '}^{' 65.} _{,-, , ....,. .. . .} ^{, .}

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'( Re po rt s-on

a. --

8iuDp~~ '~rvey' condu oted,wi;thin 1st January , 1969.:'1;0 .30th'

May ,..1970). _. ' ;" . .-, ', . . .:

:\"'.,-^~ . " . ,

.

^,

• ,." '. I , " .' . ~ .'

(3) . ;", ,"( Prelimina ry report'_ci~ fertil ity

and :

family planni ng

in Sierra Leone," Paper pre s en te d to the 13th Annual I{eeti n g··o;f·,t h e ."

Afrlcl'n'Studie s Assooia t i o n, Boston. '.(Unavail abl e to wi-i ter for';pre';" :

parailon of thi s RepOrt) . . , . .

(5), ' ~'Sierra Leon e , " Country Profiles (1969)"The.Popl,llatlon '. OouncdL, New York. (Contain!?'a Pa:ragraRh in whi oh fertilitY:r~:te~ly'~re

oalCUl at ed);..

1:· ' .-' • . '.;. " •.• ,;.

POP/INF/IOb Page 2

I,!,! '','

(6) .T.t.F·. Devis, "Variations in Fsrtili tylsvels amo ngs t the ethnio gro up of Sierra Leone," rata currently be ing processed and thus reeul ts still pending. .., ..

B., Summaries and Major . ..

Findin~s of St u di e s !bne on .Fer t i l i t y in Sierra Leone....

•

. : .

.

^,.

Mo de i Li f e Ta ble s .and St abl e Po ui a t i o·n.

, :"Fertili ty in SLerra.Leo ne, ''. op.cit ,

r; . " ' • • '" . • ,.

(~j Object i ~e

'o f sttidy: Using the 1963 Cen su s 'child -

,ad~ ;1; ;.1'atio ,. .

as the basis for the study, Lbw compared this ratio with the found in North.stable .Po pu l a t i o n I~o de l. to derive gro s s repJ;'.o.duction J;'J!;tes for various"Pro.vi~ces and districts.0 f Sier raJ.Leon e... ,.., ':.""

" HE! pointed out that though

his~~~rcise

^{provi,i'ed evidence}

~f . ·

^{'..' .}

differential fertility levels yet the correspondence of these rates with what holds in the real population was ' pr o bl ema t i c'.

(b) Me t ho do l o.g.y ..(3): Lbw as s o c i a t e d thE!.c hil d - adult women ratio with the level of fertiiity. The observed child - adult ra t i o s,were .,.

compared with those found in a series of sta bl e populations and the best.1'i t between.the two .wa.s discovered... The..as s um ption waS then made

tha t 't h e relevant parameters of the stable mo del ·e;l,osely ,a ppro xima t e

those in the real population (see Table I). Child - adul t ra t io for a f"ema l e expectation.o f life at ·b'i..rt h of 30 yeaf.s.an d for a female expectation of fif.e at.Bt'rth of. 30.years and for·selected levels of the Gros s Reproduction rate with a' me~~ ^age of child bearing of 27 yea r s - No rth Mode l Stable Popu:¥~~~~•.-.::.:

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Tabl e .1. . ^{..... .....,'\}

Mean expectation of li f e e ~ 30 years; Mean

",age·of 'c hi l d .b ea:r'inlf· ..^.I m = 27 years .

:Ratio of speh'fi ..:cii'f.eDiiile.a:g;.::ciaB....~to female adult over 15 years

..t.Under 5''. .Un de r 10 . .Under 15 O_Ver· 15.. · · '-·_{... -:}··, _'-,'.'0_{_:I'..} 1"

' r' .... ' .

'0^{ver 1}5 Increasing

Value. of Gross

ReprQduction Rate '

2. 0

2·5 . ,

3.0 ..43·5.0,

4, 5 i '

0.160 0.218

r•

0.276 0.336 0.396 0.456

--'1., :

.'

,'; '

~'" .

'.

0.290 ., .0.387 0.48 3 0.581 0.677 0.77 1

0.416 0. 544 0.670 0. 795 0.916 1.035

Source:, ^Lbw, "Fertility in Si e r ra Leone".

Note: ' I n

~onstructing 't~~le 4;

^{it wa s a}s s um e d that

' ih~~&~rth P~pulation

",~mo de l s.would fit the Si e r r a Leone data most closely, and that a level

. , . of

^{mox'tality, 'correSpciii~n g-is an'expectancy} of life at li'irth of 30.(. years (e ~ 30 years) would not be in appropriate to the Sierra Leone:

,- ' ;

• •_ •• • r ••· ._ '

a. mean.age ef·ch dL'd bearing of

the high incidenc e of youth f u l

•

POP/INF/lof;

Page 3

experience. Finall y the selec tio~:Qf

27 (m

=

27 year s) was co ns istent with marri a ges in Sierra Leone•

. ..

_{(~r ··M~ .i~~·,}Fi~·dirig;; .~ (T~~ '~u~~titati^{ve results of th e} anal ysis ar e

'pr e s en t e d ,'i n 'l'able

.

s 2, "3 and^{' .,}

4. )

. : _{· ·~ ·: ': " (S . 'Th~ "} StJdy _· ~~';"~~ · -~h';[; .. _{~heN o rthe rn}

Pr ovi n ce had a higher

. 'f Elr t ility .than..eithe·i .th e.·Southern·o-r Ea st ern-Province^sr:

(ii) That under th e distri c t 'level , to share unifo rml y in the high areas.

smaller units had the tendency, . or low fertility of the .gene~,:,l',.'

3 ., -

^{Estimate,s By the 1963- Census·an}d.·A S"mpl e· Su r ve;y:-- ,.--'. '....

( ~) St~~ ;'

^Ibw,

" s,i ~~~a

devoted -a short para gr a ph fertilit-;r rate s in Si,er ra

: ..

'.' - .

Co un t ry co untry

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~-

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{,-' , " .-

To:·try and achieve na t i ona l eEtimates of fertili t y' and mo r t a li ty , ,.-;.

the observed fema l e ago distribut ion, as recor ded in the 1963 ' . Census, was us e d in co nfuncti on with the "offi cial " growth'rate'of, " ~"

1.5 per cent to:loca t e an appr o priate St abl e Popu lati on . Fi'tting,: ._,.~, these parame t e r s to one of th e fUlll_.ily of We s t Mo del lif e tables of the ' ,

,

"', Coale-Demeny Syst em provides es t i mates of the crude bi rt h and crude ' ~: '.

death rates of 48 per 1,000 and 3'3- per 1,000 res p ec tivel y. " .

.: :.

,

.

(:ll) "

~tud3: :IbwJ :'Fert il ity,and Fawi l.y Pl anni n g .in .Sier ra,Leo'it 9';" -

op_ .cit . _ ... . -....:...

(i) Ob jecti ve of _Stud~: to relate _{lb~ si c} attitu di nal _{an d,beha~? r~l} patte r n s in the area of::fertility an d family planning to' the" . social and demographic oharacteristics of the Women interviewed.",. .

. . • ::., . ''.~i -. . ' , . ....,

Me t ho do l ogy : A sample'sur'jey ccive ri ng 5,952 cur rently mar-r-ied women'and· .··

single women with:chi ldren, 15:_:49 year E of age. An exi sting sample -- frame in Freeto wn developed' iii 1966 an d ravi s e d 'in'19 68 to obtain soc{al an d economic info rma t ion from a repre s entative sampl e of ho useho l ds in Freetown was empl oye d . A similar sample frame was avai labl e for 22 towns in Sier ra Leon e (4). The sa mpl e frame for the rura l areas were developed from th e 1963 Census. 'To faci litate Me tro po l i tan - urban- rural oompari so n s,and national estimate e, U series of weight s was developed' •

The survey was con du c ted between 1st Jan ua ry, 1969 an d 30th May , 1970.

....

POP/INF/l08 Page

4

TABLE 2:

AREA

'. .."

.... \ ",;'

Deri ved Gross Repr oduction Rat e s for the Provinces and IQstric t s of Si er ra Leone

Gross repr oduction ra t ~s derived on the basis of :'atio of speci fi c femal e age- clas s

to

^{fema l es 15 year s an d over}

UNlER 5 UNlER 10 UNllER 15 OVER 15 OVER 15 OVER 15

•

Sie r ra Leone Southern' Provinc e Eas t ern Provinc e Northern Province Western Area

Mea n (a) Bo IQstrict Bonthe IQstr ic t Moyamba IQs t r ict Pujehun IQstric t

Sherbro Urban IQstrict Kailahun' IQstrict Kenema IQstric t Ko no IQstri c t Bombali IQstri ct' Kambia IQstri c t Koinadugu IQstrict Port Loko Dist r-i ct

Tonkolili IQstrict Mean

2.9 2.6 2.8

3. 3

2. 8

2.5

2.6 2.6

2.7

,2.6 _2.8 2.6

3.1 3.3 3.2 3.4 3.1

,3. 3c

2. 4 2.

2..4

5 ' 2 . 5

.2.8, ,,2. 7 ',

,? 4

3.0 3. 3 3.2 , 3·5 3.1 3.3

2.1 2.1 2.2 2. 1 2.9

2.3

2.1 2.6, 2.9 2.9

3. 0 2.7

2.9

2.5

Source :

, '

Ibw, "Fert ilit y in Sier r a' Leone "

Note: (a) 'ioIQs pari ty suggests

under-enumerati~n

^{in the age cla ss 10 to 14} year s whic h,is ref l ect ed in the ratio"of the under 15 year grou p. ,Ac co r di ngly ratio is almost cer t a in to be low. The remaini ng ra t i o s, with a common

mean

gro

as're producti.ori ra t e of 2.9 are to be pz:efer red"^<

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•

., ,.

...

POP/INF/l08 Page 5

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TABLE 3: GEO GRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTIO N OF ESTIMATED REPROIDCTION RATES BY PROVINCES

':

PROVINCE-AND WESTERN_AREA

Northern Western Area Eastern

SOuthern

.'. .~. .

ESTIMATED GROSS REPROIDCTION RATE

"

3.4 - 3.2 3.1- .2. 9 2.8 - 2.6 2.5 - 2.3

Souroe: Adapted from Ibw, "Fertility in Sierra Leone"

TABLE

4:

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ESTIMATED GROSS REPROIDCTION RATES BY'DI STRICTS

DISTRICTS Koinadugu -',._.

Bombali , To nke li li and Kambia.

Western-area, Kono and Port Loko Kallahun Mo ya mM , Bo Kenema, Bothe and Pujehun

ESTIMATED GROS S REPROIDCTION RATES

3.5

and over

3. 4 - 3•. 2

<-,. , ' •

3. 1

2~~

2. 8 - 2.6

2.5 - 2.3

Souroe: Adapted from Ibw, 'Fertili ty in Si e r ra Leo n e ' .

POP/INF/l08 Page 6

Majo r Fin di ngs : (Quantitative results presented in Table 5)

(i) "Fe r t i li t y ••••••• more strongly influenced by place of r eai dence-, urban or rural - than by soci al an d demo gra phi c fa o to r".

•

•

(11 ) _.Ji.~ i)

Village women on the average had mor e children.

"Women..1'"ho.werJ! e du cated, .chr i s t i an,·. s.ingle an d members of the' .Creo le tribe tended to. be less prona tai ••••• tban .women who

were uneduca t e d,. muslim, currently married·and members of th e...

inende'o

r

^{'Temiie Tribe"•}

.'.

(iv) In the ru ral areas·women living in the village of their 'bi r t h s tende d to be mo re pronatal than their nei ghbour who were born el sewhere . ' .

,( v) Women -living in Freeto wn an d town s 'who"were' born'tliiir e tended

to be l ess pronatal than the i r neighbour s who we re born elsewhere.

PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

The future pr omises iMpr ovements in the provision of reliable fert il i t y data in Sierra Leone . Mor e spec i f i ca lly , the pr oj ected 1974 national census, current ly bein g planned, will include questions on fertility, and will thus help fil l a gap in our knowl e dge in this field and provi de checks on past theor e t i ca l oriented studies such as .Ibw' s Mo del-Life-Table-Stable-Populati on .ex er c i se, ' .

Secondly, the Cent ral St at is ti c s Off i ce has a plan rel ative to the extension.E!nd improvement..Q~f the_:.yital·-registrati on systeur-i n··th e' ... ~. . ..·c'?~:!,ry , . Wb,en .t h;i. s·..plan':e.ventually:mat"ri alises, Si e rra Leone'will

have a compr ehen sive and sustained mechanism for the pr ovisi on of

conventional ferti lity ·da·t a . '

Also the result s of Tim DeTts 's (5) study on fertility levels amongst ethnic groups in Sier r a Leone , Mod e l led after Van 'Dewall e ' s Niger ian ana lysis, when they become avai lable , ought to pr o vi de some insigh t into this area .

,- •

•

• TABLE

5:

MEAN NUMBER OF LIVE BIRTHS AND MEAN NUMB1;;R OF SURVIVING CHILmEN BY AGE:

FREETOWN, TOWNS, VILLAGES, AND SIERRA LEONE

POP/INF/ loB Page 7

Ag e

15 .- 19 '20 •. 24 25 - 29 30 - 34 35 - 39 40 - 44 45 - 49

FREETOWN TOWNS

(ij

^VILLAGES SIERRA LEO"""Ni""

JJL

^{(2) (3)a}

-11)

^{(2) (3)a (2) (3)a (1) . (2) (3)a}

Sur vi v- Propor- Survi v- Pro!'or - E~l.r viv Pr-opo r-« Surviv- Pr opo r -

Live ing tion Live ing tion Li ve ing tio:! Live ing tLon

births Child- survi v- births chil d- surviv- births child- survi^{y -} births chil d-' . eurviv-

ren _~ ren in g ren in p; ren ing

1.0 ·9

.9

·9

.8

.9

.8

^.6 .7 .8 ..

•6 . . ,

,8

2,0 1.7 •8 1.7 1.4 .8 2.0 1·5

. 7

^{2.0 , 1.5 , ,8}

3. 2 2.6 .8 3.\.\ 2.3 .8 3.7 2.6 .7 3.5 ": 2. 6 .7

4.5 3.3 .7 4·5 3.3 .7 4. 8 3.3 .7 4.7 ..•. 3.3 ,

.

^.7

5.1 3.8 .7 4. 8 3.4 .7 6.6 3.9 ..6 6. 1 ' 3. 8 .6

5.8 4.1 .7 5·2 3·5 .7 8.3 3.9 .5 7.4 3.8 .5

5.3 3. 7 .7 5.1 3.8 .7 8.8 3.8 .4 7.5 ; 3.8 . ·5

I

Number""f

r-espondent e 1,676 2,208 2,068 _-.' 5,952

a Col umn two d1 vided by co lumn one

Source , Dow, "Fe rt il ity and Family Planni ng in Sierra Leone."

I "

.

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,:.; '.,.

- ^"

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.

.

....

"

POP!INF!I08

Page 8

!\UTES AND REFERENCE::;

1. Central Stati sti cs Of fic e , 1963 Populatio n Census of Sier ra Leon e Vo 1.1 (Freetown, 19 65 ) , p. iii :

"Questions on ferti lity of adult 'women, although desirable,' also were omi tted from the census".

2.

Dr.

Thomas E. Dow Jr., was at one time Field Associate , fo r the Population Council in Sierra Leon e.

3. The me thodology of thi s study drew heavi ly from William Bra s s an d An s l ey Co a le , "Met ho ds of Anal ysis and Estimati o n," in Brass' et a1., The DemographY of Tr o pi cal Af r i ca (Pri nceton University Pres~ 1968 ).

The study itself was mo delled af t e r E. Van DeWalle's "Fertility , in Nigeria," pp. 515 - ' 27 in the same wo rk~" '

•

Fo r the purpose of 1,000 - 3,999; (2) 14,000 an d over.

the study, Dow defined towns into categor ie s - 4,000'- 8,99 9; (3) 9,000 - 13,999; and

5. Tim Devis was until rec en tly resident adviser 1n'Sierra Leo ne of the Population Council of New Yo r k .

' .

, ,

~.

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