Proximity to Contraceptive Services and Fertility Transition in Rural Kenya

Data from the 1989 Kenya Community Survey (KCS), which revisited 260 of the rural communities included in the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), show a swift rise in access to family planning services in rural Kenya during the 1980s. As the decade began, only 26% of the rural population could reach a source of family planning within three hours; by 1989, 87% could do so. This increase in access to services coincided with the beginning of the rise in contraceptive prevalence. Multivariate analyses of linked KCS and KDHS data reveal that although contraceptive availability coincided with growth in demand for fertility control, it did not initiate Kenya's fertility transition. The greater availability of services, however, has accelerated the fertility transition by increasing the proportion of users who rely on highly effective clinical methods.