REPORT Adolescent Fertility Is Lower than Expected in Rural Areas: Results from African HDSS Clémentine Rossier, Bruno Schoumaker, Valérie Delaunay, Donatien Beguy, Aparna Jain, Martin Bangha, Alemseged Aregay, Baptiste Beck, Karim Derra, Modeste Millogo, Albert Nkhata Dube, Kone Siaka, Marylene Wamukoya, and Pascal Zabre The adolescent birth rate (ABR) is an important indicator of maternal health, adolescent sexual health, and gender equity; it remains high in sub-Saharan Africa. While Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are the main source of ABR estimates, Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS) also produce ABRs. Studies are lacking, however, to assess the ease of access and ac- curacy of HDSS ABR measures. In this paper, we use birth and exposure data from HDSS in six African countries to compute local ABRs and compare these rates to DHS regional rates where the HDSS sites are located, standardiz- ing by education and place of residence. In rural HDSS sites, the ABR measure is on average percent lower than the DHS measure, after controlling for ed- ucation and place of residence. Strong temporary migration of childless young women out of rural areas and different capacities in capturing temporarily ab- sent women in the DHS and HDSS could explain this discrepancy. Further comparisons based on more strictly similar populations and measures seem warranted. Clémentine Rossier, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland and Institut National d’Etudes Démo- graphiques, Paris, France. E-mail:
[email protected]. Bruno Schoumaker, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Valérie Delaunay, Institut de Recherche pour le Développe- ment, Marseille, France. Donatien Beguy, African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya.