BACKGROUND
While the potential benefits for educational investment of decline in family size are
well known, some questions have emerged on the distribution of these benefits. Do all
the children in a family benefit equitably from the improved conditions brought about
by limiting their number? And what are the consequences of reduction in family size for
social inequalities in educational opportunity within the family?
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to analyze the inequalities in education between children within the
same family in the context of falling fertility in Ouagadougou, the capital city of
Burkina Faso.
METHODS
Inequalities in school attainment are analyzed, first in regard to family sizes and second
in terms of gender, birth order, and the interactions between these two variables. Probit
models are estimated and adjusted Wald F statistics with Bonferroni corrections for
multiple comparisons are computed.
RESULTS
The results show that family households with fewer children exhibit different patterns
of investment in children’s schooling, with lower inequalities between children by
gender and birth order. At the post-primary level, however, the firstborn girls in small
families appear to be less likely to be enrolled in school compared with those in large families, and also to be disadvantaged in their schooling compared to other children of
small families.
CONCLUSIONS
Reduced fertility appears to have negative effects on the schooling of the oldest girls
and beneficial effects for all other children in the household. To mitigate this
disadvantage, measures should be considered to reconcile domestic work with the new
opportunities emerging from expanding school systems and smaller family sizes.