Original scientific paper

Socioecological Aspects of Human Reproduction in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sylvia Kirchengast
Claudia Neubert

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare fertility outcome of two populations of
northern Namibia, following different ways of subsistence. The total number of offspring,
but also the number of dead and surviving offspring was compared between 236
!Kung San (91 females, 145 males) hunter gatherers and 248 Kavango (87 females, 161
males) horticultural pastoralists and a small number of Kavango people living in the
urban center of Rundu. While no typical differences in fertility outcome between the
study populations could be observed in males, marked differences were found for the female
sample. As to be expected traditional Kavango women had given birth to a higher
number of children and these children had a higher chance to survive in comparison to
those of !Kung San women. On the other hand Kavango females living in urban centers
reported a significantly lower number of offspring. It can be concluded that even in recent
populations fertility differences according to subsistence patterns are observable

Keywords

reproductive ecology; subsistence; !Kung San; Kavango

Hrčak ID:

27994

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/27994

Publication date:

28.12.2004.

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