Rainfall Change, Fertility and Kin Co-residence

• In Event: 41065 - Population and Environment

Abstract

Local environmental change is known to affect fertility decisions, especially in rural, agricultural settings. The effects are not universal and may vary with the presence of certain household resources, like agricultural possessions, and by living arrangement, that is, the presence of co-resident extended kin. Co-residing with kin may be especially relevant to how women (couples) make fertility decisions in the face of changing weather conditions because co-resident women may provide instrumental support for childbearing (which is known to encourage childbearing) but it is empirically unknown how living arrangements may vary the response to weather change vis a vis fertility. It is plausible that women in larger familial living arrangements may limit births to support the existing household subsistence. Alternatively, larger households may be encouraging of births and children’s labor can be beneficial in times of environmental stress. We use a novel dataset of rural, Malian women (aged 15-49 and surveyed between 2016 and 2020) linked with geospatial rainfall data to understand this relationship between environment and fertility and investigate variations by living arrangement type, agricultural connection and sociodemographic factors.

Authors

• Isabel H. McLoughlin Brooks, University of Michgican

• Emily Treleaven, University of California, San Francisco

• Margaret Frye, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor