Effects of Refined Petroleum Hydrocarbon on Soil Physicochemical and Bacteriological Characteristics

Abstract

The present article examines trends in the proximate determinants of fertility in Ghana over a decade (from 1988 to 1998) with a view to finding out their contributions to reproductive change and whether the reported fertility decline was a product of short- term fluctuations in fertility or reporting errors or the commencement of a sustained decline in completed family size. Using the Ghana Demographic and Health Surveys data sets of 1988, 1993, and 1998, the findings show that postpartum infecundability has a far more dominant inhibiting effect on fertility than the other proximate fertility determinants. Specifically, the fertility suppressing effects of postpartum infecundability are more important than the effects of contraception, and marriage patterns in explaining fertility levels and trends in Ghana. The findings of the study further show that both age at first marriage and age at first birth have increased in Ghana during 1988-1998 period, thus confirming the reproductive revolution currently underway in Ghana. However, the greatest change has been noticed among the youngest age group, as well as among women with higher education, and who live in urban areas, and Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Eastern regions.