The Changing African Family Project was begun in 1973 as a cooperative venture of the Sociology Department of the University of Ibadan and the Demography Department of the Australian National University, with research institutes and individual researchers in 11 representative countries of Africa, to investigate the preconditions for fertility decline. This paper reports initial initial findings from the large Nigerian segment of the project, which was used as a laboratory, and presents technical information about the surveys, as well as findings on economic supports for high fertility, factors affecting fertility, the role of sexual abstinence in determining fertility levels, the increase in contraception and its relation to family size limitation, and the incidence and nature of achieved small families. Information is also provided on the projects in Cameroon, the Congo (Brazzaville), Ghana, and the Sudan.