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Title
Demographic dynamics in rural Northern Nigeria: a case study of Gimba, Kaduna State |
Full text
http://hdl.handle.net/1885/117413 |
Date
1980 |
Author(s)
Mahmud, S. A |
Abstract
The purpose of this case study, conducted in February and
March, 1979 was to obtain data on the general population characteristics,
as well as the fertility and mortality of a typical rural
Hausa community. The selected village of Gimba is situated in the
Soba district of Zaria emirate, Kaduna State, in the North of Nigeria.
Gimba is typical of the area being predominantly agricultural as well
as being a traditional moslem community. A total of 471 households
were enumerated in the village.
Previous information on the demographic condition of the rural
Hausa has come from data collected in the course of anthropological
and economic studies. Such information is necessarily scanty. This
study thus represents an attempt to fill some of the gaps in the
existing knowledge of the demography of the Hausa people, who are the
largest single ethnic group in Nigeria.
The survey data shows that the population is characterised by
universal and early age at marriage. Most girls marry before the age
of 15. Marriage is fairly stable: over three fourths of the wives
under 50 years of age were in their first unions at the time of the
survey.
By applying relatively new analytical techniques this study
has succeeded in deriving estimates of mortality that are internally
consistent and plausible. The average expectations of life at birth
of 44.4 and 43.9 years have been estimated for females and males respectively. Various fertility measures, such as the crude birth
rate, age-specific fertility rates as well as net reproduction rate
have also been estimated. The total fertility rate for the population
was 6.0 and the mean age of childbearing is estimated at 27 years.
The data shows that the level of fertility in the survey population is,
by Nigerian experience, moderate, occupying the middle position between
the high and low levels observed in other rural communities. It is
demonstrated that level of fertility and the length of breast feeding
are inversely related. The data indicates that monogamously married
women in Gimba have a slightly higher fertility than their polygamous
counterparts, but that the actual family size of the women was substantially
below the ideal family size.
Besides providing hitherto unavailable data, it is hoped that
this study will provide a suitable framework for future demographic
research in other similar communities. |
Subject(s)
Rural population Case studiesNigeria |
Language
en |
Type of publication
Thesis (Masters) |
Format
1 v. |
Identifier
b1271784 |
Repository
Canberra - Australian National University
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Added to C-A: 2018-11-22;12:48:33 |
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