Women’s education and higher fertility outcomes in Ghana: an exploratory study

The inverse relationship between female education and fertility is well documented, and the statistical strength of this relationship has been used to develop important international and national policy documents. Promoting female education is expected to yield a demo-graphic dividend of lower fertility rates, and improved well-being of mothers. But nuances to the relationship between education and fertility are beginning to show that desired end points are not as straightforward as projected. In this study, we use Ghana Demographic and Health Survey data to dig deeper into the gradations of the relationship between female education and fertility preferences and dimensions of male influence on couples’ repro-ductive behaviour in Ghana, building up more rigorous evidence for better targeted policy interventions.