Enhancing Family Planning Equity for Inclusive Economic Growth and Development

Kaitlyn Patierno, Population Reference Bureau
Meghan Reidy, Avenir Health
Imelda Feranil, Avenir Health

Efforts to promote inclusive economic growth will be enhanced by demographic changes that facilitate investment in human capital. While wealth-based disparities in fertility are well-documented globally, the impact of those disparities on age structure and economic opportunity is less clear. This analysis examines disparities in contraceptive prevalence and fertility using Demographic and Health Survey data from Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania, and examines the effect of differential fertility decline on the age structure of the richest and poorest population quintiles by projecting those trends through 2050. Rapid, equitable increases in contraceptive prevalence in Malawi could position both quintiles to achieve replacement level fertility by 2035. Differential fertility decline in other countries could produce imbalances in the age structure of the two extreme quintiles that persist through 2050. Expanding access to contraception will help ensure the benefits of smaller families are available to poor households, accelerating progress towards inclusive economic growth.