Socio-Demographic and Economic Factors Associated with Adolescent Fertility in Cameroon

Adolescent fertility even though on a decline globally remains a major challenge especially for countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Cameroon, adolescent fertility presents a serious hindrance to development since its one of the root causes for adolescent women's school dropout, subsequent economic losses through loss of productivity and the intergenerational transmission of poverty. To inform policy choices with reference to population and development in Cameroon, this study examines the association and net effects of adolescent women's educational level on adolescent fertility controlling for the effects of other associated sociodemographic and economic factors. The study focused on a sample size of 1,858 sexually active and fecund adolescent women some of whom already began childbearing, extracted from the women's dataset of the 2011 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS). The study employed descriptive analysis, chi-square tests and multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression models. Based on the results obtained, adolescent women's age, marital status, current desire for more children, religion, and occupation were risk factors associated with adolescent fertility in Cameroon. While adolescent women's educational level, use of contraceptives, age at the debut of first sex, household wealth index category, and region of residence within the country served as protective factors associated with adolescent fertility in Cameroon. Adolescent women's educational level basically at the primary level of education was not consistently significant in reducing the likelihood of beginning childbearing during adolescence in Cameroon. Keywords Adolescent, Fertility, Educational Level, Early Marriages, Cameroon