Parish records from Namibia 1925-1990 - an attempt to analyze fertility and mortality in Ovamboland

The general aim of the study is to describe and to try to understand the population development (mortality and fertility) in Ovamboland in North-Namibia. Parish records are used as a primary source. The family reconstruction method based on marriage cohorts has been used. The data includes about 7,000 marriages and 27,000 children. Administrative and missionary records were used especially in interpretation of research results. According to the results both a clear decline and increase in fertility have occurred during 1930-1980 although fertility has been all the time close to natural fertility. Mortality declined in the 1950s in Ovamboland. The main cause for the mortality decline was probably the health care system built by the missionaries. At the same time, however, there was no more bad famines in the area during the 1950s and in general the nutrition level also improved during the 1950s

Fertility decline in North-Central Namibia

This study examines fertility decline in North-Central Namibia in the period 1960-2000. A Scandinavian-type parish-register system, established in the beginning of 20th Century and still in use, provided register-based data for fertility analysis. Fertility decline began in 1980, was rapid in the 1980s, levelled off in the early 1990s, started again in 1994 and continued until the year 2000. Fertility declined in every age group, except among the 15-19 year olds, whose fertility increased. Cohort fertility started to decline among the 1940-44 birth cohort. During the 1980s, fertility decline was associated with increasing age at first marriage and declining marital fertility, connected to e.g. the War of Independence. During the 1990s, an increase in both the use of contraceptives and HIV-prevalence contributed to the fertility decline.AIDS/HIV, cohort fertility, contraception, fertility decline, Namibia, parish registers, period fertility, Sub-Saharan Africa