Low Fertility in a Pastoral Population: Constraints or Choice?

Abstract

When considering the demography of pastoral populations, a frequently encountered theme is that of slow population growth, usually attributed to low fertility. The hypothesis that pastoralists have to control human numbers in order to keep them in line with animal resources is often invoked and some authors have investigated the mechanisms by which this balance might be achieved. These include migration, economic transformation, high mortality and low fertility (see Randall, in press, for a full review). There is no conclusive evidence which shows that all pastoralist populations have low fertility, but their demographic régime does tend to differ from groups practising different subsistence strategies and fertility appears to rise on sedentarisation and the adoption of agriculture (Henin, 1968, 1969).