Rural development and attitudes towards family size in Côte d'Ivoire

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of rural development on attitudes towards family size in Côte d'Ivoire. We assume that improved conditions of production and of living conditions of rural populations, through the development of village infrastructure and the modernization of agricultural production techniques, induce new attitudes towards reproduction, including a preference for small families. The results of our analyses, which are based on data collected in 21 rural communities across the national territory of Côte d'Ivoire, confirm the hypothesis. These results confirm those of previous studies conducted in Asia and Latin America, and are consistent with Kocher's hypothesis that modernization efforts in rural areas may result in a significant decline of fertility.