Author(s)

Aristide Romaric Bado^1,2*, Jean-Pierre Guengant³, Hamidou I. Maga⁴, Lamoussa R. Zoma⁵, Ibrahim Tall¹, Fatima Tidiani/Kandine¹

¹DEMSAN Project, West African Health Organisation (WAHO), Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
²Departement Biomedical et Santé Publique, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
³Institute of Research for Development (IRD), University of Paris I, Paris, France.
⁴Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey, Niamey, Niger.
⁵Multi Advertise Group, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Context: Meeting in Ouagadougou in 2017, Burkina Faso, parliamentarians from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS, 15 countries), Mauritania and Chad “invited ECOWAS countries, Mauritania and Chad to work towards reducing their respective total fertility rates to no more than three children per woman by 2030” and to promote really viable and sustainable development. Has this declaration been well received by the population? This is the question that our research attempts to answer through research conducted in Burkina Faso. Methodology: The research was conducted in several regions of Burkina Faso. It is a mixed study with a quantitative and a qualitative component to analyze the perceptions of the respondents on their appreciation of the ECOWAS parliamentarians’ declaration on 3 children per woman. Results: The results in Burkina Faso showed that 31% of men and 41% of women agreed with the suggestion to stop when reaching three children. Conversely, 45% of the men and 39% of women surveyed were against “stopping at three children”. The results of this study clearly indicate that the idea of controlling the size of one’s family is much more widely supported than that might be assumed. Conclusion: The debate between the supporters and opponents of birth control within couples is still ongoing. However, fertility control issues are still taboo subjects, little discussed by researchers and policy makers.

Fertility Control, Three Children Per Woman, Statement, Parliamentarians, West Africa

Bado, A. , Guengant, J. , Maga, H. , Zoma, L. , Tall, I. and Tidiani/Kandine, F. (2023) Fertility Regulation in Burkina Faso: Refusal to Impose a Fixed Number of Children per Woman, But Attitudes in Favour of Lower Fertility. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 11, 76-93. doi: 10.4236/jss.2023.111008.