The Patterns and Causes of Fertility Differentials in the Sudan

Abstract

A demographic survey was carried out in I96I /62 in certain parts of the country to study fertility differentials between nomadic and settled populations. Two main tribes were selected. One, the Baggara, in the west of the Sudan, is predominantly a cattle-owning nomadic tribe. A small part of it, however, is settled in the tribal headquarters in Muglad Village. The second main tribe, the Kawahla, in the east of the Sudan, was at one time mainly nomadic. But part of it was settled in the I920's as a result of launching the cotton-producing Gezira scheme between the Blue and White Niles; another part was settled in the 1950's as a result of extending the Gezira into what is now called the Managil Extension. The third part is still nomadic and is referred to hereafter as Blue Nile Nomads. In an earlier paper' it was shown that the fertility of the settled population in the Gezira scheme was about twice as high as that of the Baggara or the Blue Nile Nomads. Cohort analysis has also shown that the Gezira as well as the Managil experienced a systematic rise in their fertility as a result of settlement. In the paper referred to, the magnitude of the fertility differentials between the various groups was considered only in terms of the average numbers of births reported for women in different age groups. In this paper a closer examination is made of the patterns of the differentials, and possible underlying causes are then assessed. These are divided into two categories: those arising from differential marriage patterns, and those which are broadly termed 'medical and physiological'.