Seasonal Births in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite our ability to breed continuously, human populations often exhibit seasonal variation in reproduction. Seasonality of births has been extensively studied in North America, Europe, and East Asia but less so in African settings. Using the Demographic and Health Surveys, we document, test, and compare birth seasonality in Sub-Saharan Africa. For certain countries (with large sample sizes), we also look at within country variation by ethnicity, religion, and region. We also look at whether or not birth seasonality has declined within the past three decades. We also validate the DHS results with birth data obtained from other sources such as censuses. Thus far we find a wide range of seasonal patterns and different amplitudes, with the largest seasonal birth amplitudes concentrated in West Africa.