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Demographic Change and Rural-Urban Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and Trends

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International Handbook of Rural Demography

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Population ((IHOP,volume 3))

Abstract

Insofar as demographic and economic outcomes are interrelated, demographic trends can signal or portend change in rural-urban inequality. This paper examines trends in the demographic differentiation and demographic exchanges between rural and urban communities of Africa, as these countries advance in their fertility transitions. We find that rural and urban communities are becoming increasingly dissimilar in birth rates, age structure, and educational composition. Even as demographic exchange, in the form of child fosterage, may continue to buffer inequality, the observed patterns of demographic differentiation raise concern about growing rural-urban inequality, especially at a time of selective globalization.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Between 1980 and 1998 for instance, the between-nation income inequality (as measured by the Mean Logarithmic Deviation) has declined from about 0.63 to 0.49 (Firebaugh & Goesling, 2004). Importantly, similar convergence is not visible across African countries. Instead, GDP inequality (as measured by the squared coefficient of variation) doubled from about 0.75 in the early 1960s to about 1.6 at the turn of the century (Kandiwa, 2007). Africa thus stands as an exception to the convergence noted for world countries as a whole. This differentiation extends to children’s schooling and mortality, raising concerns about future inequality (UNICEF, 2008; Eloundou-Enyegue & Rehman, 2009).

  2. 2.

    With some allowance for normative patterns of child labor and adult employment, a 10% decline in youth-adult ratio translated into an 8.4% decline in youth age dependency, and the association between the two variables was quite close (92% of all variation in youth age dependency was associated with changes in youth adult ratio) (Eloundou-Enyegue & Makki, 2010).

  3. 3.

    For instance, a 10% increase in savings translated on average into a 2% increase in growth (and savings accounted for about 14% of variation in economic growth). Conversely, the crucial middle link between age dependency and savings was weak. Only a very small percentage (1%) of the total change in savings was tied to reduced age dependency. Perhaps generalized poverty, inequality, foreign debt servicing, capital flight, and rising consumerism all helped erode the potential benefits from reduced age dependency. Only in a handful of countries (Angola, Chad, Senegal, Comoros, and the Republic of Congo) could one see a substantial link between reduced age dependency and savings during the study period.

Abbreviations

DHS:

Demographic and Health Surveys

HIV:

Human Immunodeficiency Virus

MLD:

Mean Logarithmic Deviation

NRC:

National Research Council (US)

UN:

United Nations

UNICEF:

United Nations’ Children Fund

UNDP:

United Nations Development Program

TFR:

Total Fertility Rate

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Development Sociology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Parfait M. Eloundou-Enyegue & Sarah C. Giroux

Authors
  1. Parfait M. Eloundou-Enyegue
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  2. Sarah C. Giroux
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Correspondence to Parfait M. Eloundou-Enyegue .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Sociology , Anthropology and Social Work, Kansas State University, Waters Hall 202D, Manhattan, 66506, Kansas, USA

    László J. Kulcsár

  2. , Community and Environmental Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Linden Drive 1450, Madison, 53706, Wisconsin, USA

    Katherine J. Curtis

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Eloundou-Enyegue, P.M., Giroux, S.C. (2012). Demographic Change and Rural-Urban Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and Trends. In: Kulcsár, L., Curtis, K. (eds) International Handbook of Rural Demography. International Handbooks of Population, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1842-5_10

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