Page 97 - IJPS-11-3

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Factors influencing male fertility in Uganda

Henry Nsobya* , Elizabeth Nansubuga , and Cyprian Misinde
Department of Population Studies, College of Business Management Sciences, Makerere University,
Kampala, Uganda

Abstract

Male fertility is an important component of population research. Against this
backdrop, this paper aims to examine the factors explaining male fertility changes
in Uganda. The authors applied the own-children method, as described by
Schoumaker, to understand the prevailing male total fertility rate trends and to
select datasets for inclusion during the multivariate analysis, using the Uganda
demographic health surveys conducted from 2006 to 2016. A multivariable Poisson
decomposition regression model was used to examine factors associated with male
fertility changes. This model analyzed data from the 2006 and 2016 surveys only and
included a total sample size of 7839 male respondents. The outcome variable for the
regression model was children ever born (CEB). The regression model showed that
differences related to changes in the proportional composition of characteristics
contributed 113% to the change in CEB, compared with the differences due to
reproductive behavior, with other factors being kept constant. The most important
proportional changes that led to meaningful variability in CEB were observed among
the following characteristics: occupation, number of current wives, total number
of lifetime partners, type of residence, education, and age at first childbirth. Thus,
*Corresponding author: interventions to delay the formation of cohabitation and marriage unions and the
Henry Nsobya
(meal@busogahealthforum.org) onset of childbirth or fatherhood among adolescents and young men below the
age of 25 should be prioritized as potent fertility regulation measures. In addition,
Citation: Nsobya, H., the focus on eliminating the lack of education and primary education as the highest
Nansubuga E. & Misinde, C.
(2025). Factors influencing male levels attained among boys and men should be prioritized to boost a rapid male
fertility in Uganda. International fertility transition in Uganda.
Journal of Population Studies,
11(3): 91-104.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.461 Keywords: Male fertility; Fertility; Uganda
Received: February 11, 2023
Accepted: February 12, 2024
Published online: July 3, 2024 1. Introduction
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). As the global population continues to grow, it is projected that sub-Saharan African
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the countries are projected to contribute the lion’s share of the future increase by 2050 and
Creative Commons Attribution 2100 (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2022). Importantly,
License, permitting distribution, population growth in low-income countries is expected to rise majorly due to heightened
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is births exceeding deaths, as an outcome of the momentum of past high fertility trends,
properly cited. currently entrenched in the prevailing youthful age population structure (United Nations
Publisher’s Note: AccScience Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2022).
Publishing remains neutral with In the past, researchers in the field of demography have had a protracted debate
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional regarding the viability of studying male fertility and its implications due to concerns
affiliations about data quality. It is worth noting that the continuous lack of consistent quality data

Volume 11 Issue 3 (2025) 91 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.461