Kenya's population growth rates are now approaching 4% per year, due to increasing birth rates and declining death rates. A woman reaching menopause in 1969 had an average 7.6 births compared to a woman reaching menopause in 1979 with an average of 8.1 births. Also, the infant mortality rate dropped from 119/1000 in 1969 to 96/1000 in 1975. This study analyzes regional fertity differentials in Kenya between 1969 and 1979. Due to problems of data availability and reliability, only 2 fertility indices are used--the child-woman ratio and the lifetime total fertility rate for women age 15-49. Data reveal that the most significant determinants of regional fertility differences are the childhood mortality rate, female sterility or infecundity, and female education. However, if the analysis is confined to rural-urban differences, then other factors such as residential background, agte at marriage, divorce and separation, and marriage type and pattern also come into play. Also, socioeconomic variables such as contraceptive use, occupation, and income also play a role in creating rural-urban fertility differentials. Kenya can be divided into 3 broad regional belts of fertility behavior. The 1st zone is Kenya's coastal belt, which has a long history of urbanization and is predominantly Moslem. This zone has relatively low fertility. The 2nd belt of moderate fertility levels comprises Kenya's dry lands, the home of the nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. The central highlands of Kenya and the Lake Victoria basin have extremely high fertility levels, partly due to their greater levels of socioeconomic development.
This article discusses increasing population density as a proximate measure of overpopulation or population pressure, especially as it occurs in an agrarian society. The paper examines 1) population distribution in 2 Igbo states in southeastern Nigeria, relating to soil types, cultivable land, and per capita acreage under cultivation, and 2) measures adopted by individuals in these areas. Aside from Legos, Nigeria's highest population densities are in Imo state (644.3 persons/square mile) and Anambra state (477.8 persons/square mile). The absence of drought and high soil fertility may contribute to high population density, although overfarming has now occurred in some areas. 3 settlement pattern stages, colonization, consolidation, and distintegration, explain the population density variation within the 2 states. Although it is useful to examine population density in terms of soil types, cultivable land availability and land use, very little of this information is available for these states. The evidence suggests that high density areas have very little cultivable land. Some general observations on the pattern of population distribution and settlement include 1) Igbo community migration tendencies, 2) land use potentials, 3) encroachment by growing communities on farmland and the need for nonfarm earning sources, and 4) decreasing land fallowing periods. Trade, migrant labor, and land rental have become alternatives to farming in densely populated areas. Population in the Igbo region strains the land resources, but leaders argue that rapid population growth could stimulate socioeconomic development, and generate interest in new food production methods. This theory supposes that agricultural production methods can be easily changed and that virgin land is still available. Instead, in response to population pressure, young people move from the land to towns and cities, increasing urban unemployment and slum dwelling. The older people, women, and children left behind in rural villages cannot produce enough food on the available land. The author calls for a deliberate government effort to plan population control strategies.
A new typology of African urban areas is presented using the example of the Ivory Coast. The impact of demographic factors on education in the towns is considered, with attention to the number of inhabitants per secondary school class, the median age of urban residents, the percentage aged 10 to 20 and 15 to 20, and the sex ratio of the school-age population. The importance of education-related migration to urban centers is noted.
