The Relationship between Resettlement and Birth Rates Case of Gambella, Ethiopia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study aims to examine the possible impacts of resettlement on birth rates by usingthe length of stay variable in the 2000 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).METHODS: Data in all three rounds of Gambella Administrative Region’s Demographic and HealthSurveys (DHS) are analyzed. The neighboring administrative region of Benishangul-Gumuz is used as acontrol. The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is applied with duration of residence as acategoricalindependentvariable.ThestatisticalsoftwareSASisused.RESULTS: In a univariate analysis of Gambella’s DHS 2000, duration of residence has a significanteffect on mothers’ age at first birth (p < 0.001), the number of children born within the five years of thesurvey (p<0.001), and the total number of children ever born (P<0.001). In the MANOVA analysis, thedurationeffectonallthreeisalsostatisticallysignificant(p<0.001).DISCUSSION: Resettlement had a disruptive effect on birth rates among females who were just cominginto marriageable ages in places of origin but were resettled to Gambella. Although the disruptive effectswaned over time, the initial shortfall resulted in reduced overall lifetime births for settler women whowerenotpastthemidpointoftheirreproductiveyearsatarrival.CONCLUSION: Based on the reproductive history of female settlers with different duration of residencein the resettlement schemes, we recommend the reinstatement of the length of residence question infuture DHS surveys in Ethiopia to allow a longitudinal tracking of demographic trends among nonnativepopulations