POVERTY AND FERTILITY DYNAMICS IN MALAWI

The countries in which poverty levels are the highest are generally those that have the most rapid increases in population and the highest fertility levels. This can be observed for Malawi where the 2010/11 Integrated household survey has found that poverty incidence is 52.4 percent and has remained unchanged in the last 5 years. Malawi ‘s population growth rate is at 2.8 percent with a TFR that has slightly declined to 5.7 from 7.6 in 1982.There are several variations in poverty levels geographically as well as along the lines of household size, education of household head , and housing conditions. Smaller families , fewer pregnancies and lower fertility are part of the formula to increase average per-capita income.
This paper will examine poverty disparities by geographic location from 2010/11 Integrated Household Survey and examine the fertility and household composition from 2010 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey and 2008 Malawi Population and Housing Census. The preliminary results are consistent with global findings that big households are likely to be poor.