Increase in natural fertility during the early stages of modernization: Evidence from an African case study, Zaire

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Abstract
The fertility of pre-modern populations is subject to various inhibiting biological and behavioural factors. One such factor which ranks highly for its fecundity-inhibiting effect in practically all traditional societies, in prolonged breast-feeding. The post-natal abstinence associated with lactation, a widespread custom in tropical Africa, is believed to keep the actual childbearing performance of the populations of this part of the world well below their childbearing potential. Large-scale infertility of a pathological origin has been reported to be responsible for the unusually low birth rates observed among some populations not practising birth control, mostly in central Africa. It is suggested that as the process of modernization begins, fertility-inhibiting factors such as these are weakened or altogether removed, before family planning is practised on any significant scale, and as a result, the natural fertility of these populations increases. It is further postulated that the weakening of these inhibiting factors occurs in a sequential rather than a simultaneous fashion. Improvements in health, and weakening of post-natal sexual restraints precede the emergence of modern lactation practices and associated reduction in the incidence of breast-feeding. The data for Zaire support the hypothesis of an increase in natural fertility associated with early modernization. The birth rate is estimated to have risen from its pre-war level of approximately 42, to 48 per 1000 during the early 1970's. The most rapid increase in the birth rate coincides with the accelerated modernization of the country during the post-war years. Its immediate cause seems to have been the dramatic reduction in sterility caused by venereal diseases. There is also evidence of some weakening of the custom of post-natal abstinence, and this, too, may have contributed to the rise in the birth rate. There is no evidence, however, of large-scale changes in lactation habits which could have affected fertility significantly, except possibly in some urban centres.

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