Study of Women’s Educational Attainment and Fertility Outcomes in Kwara State

The inverse relationship between female education and fertility is well established in demographic theory, and examining its magnitude and mechanisms in Kwara State provides contextually specific evidence for educational investment as a demographic transition policy. This study examined the relationship between women's educational attainment and fertility among currently married women aged 15 to 49 in Ilorin East, Ilorin West, and Irepodun Local Government Areas, Kwara State. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 360 women using stratified random sampling. Variables collected included highest education level, number of children ever born, ideal family size, contraceptive use, and age at first marriage. Spearman correlation, ANOVA, and multivariate regression were applied. Women with no formal education had a mean of 6.4 children ever born, compared to 3.1 for those with tertiary education (rho = -0.61, p < 0.001). Contraceptive prevalence was 8.3 percent among uneducated women versus 58.7 percent among tertiary-educated women. Age at first marriage increased progressively with educational attainment. Multivariate regression confirmed that education remained a significant predictor of reduced fertility after controlling for wealth, residence, and religion. Recommendations include increasing female secondary and tertiary education enrolment, addressing out-of-school girl programmes, and integrating reproductive health education into the Kwara State secondary school curriculum to accelerate the demographic transition. Keywords: female education, fertility, Kwara State, demographic transition, contraceptive use