Table 1 Background characteristics of study respondents (n = 129,693) presented in means and percentages for overall data and country specific for all variables

Characteristics

Burkina Faso

Benin

Cote D’Ivoire

Ghana

Gambia

Guinea

Liberia

Total

15,162

12,290

7149

5675

7798

6977

6432

 Current age (mean + S.E)

29.2 ± 0.08

29.27 ± 0.08

28.65 ± 0.13

30.54 ± 0.14

29.17 ± 0.13

28.48 ± 0.14

28.37 ± 0.16

  15–19

707 (4.66)

415 (3.37)

534 (7.47)

203 (3.57)

380 (4.87)

670 (9.61)

599 (9.32)

  20–24

3617 (23.85)

2293 (18.66)

1669 (23.35)

968 (17.06)

1657 (21.25)

1582 (22.68)

1645 (25.57)

  25–29

3978 (26.23)

3839 (31.24)

1994 (27.89)

1419 (25.01)

2218 (28.44)

1797 (25.75)

1667 (25.92)

  30–34

3304 (21.79)

3021 (24.58)

1459 (20.42)

1413 (24.9)

1787 (22.91)

1254 (17.98)

1115 (17.33)

  35–39

2146 (14.16)

1743 (14.18)

905 (12.66)

1050 (18.51)

1086 (13.93)

1014 (14.54)

877 (13.63)

  40–44

1102 (7.27)

752 (6.12)

452 (6.32)

482 (8.5)

534 (6.84)

495 (7.09)

393 (6.11)

  45–49

309 (2.04)

228 (1.85)

135 (1.89)

139 (2.45)

136 (1.75)

164 (2.35)

136 (2.12)

 Age at first birth (mean + S.E)

18.89 ± 0.04

20.01 ± 0.06

18.77 ± 0.08

20.75 ± 0.12

19.31 ± 0.08

18.15 ± 0.07

18.49 ± 0.07

   < 15

442 (2.92)

844 (6.87)

560 (7.83)

175 (3.08)

625 (8.01)

804 (11.53)

439 (6.82)

  15–19

9448 (62.32)

5274 (42.92)

4037 (56.46)

2371 (41.78)

3847 (49.34)

4168 (59.74)

4010 (62.34)

  20–24

4507 (29.73)

4446 (36.18)

2069 (28.94)

2089 (36.81)

2557 (32.79)

1572 (22.53)

1618 (25.16)

  25–29

653 (4.31)

1386 (11.28)

418 (5.84)

798 (14.06)

651 (8.35)

340 (4.87)

318 (4.94)

  30–34

96 (0.63)

272 (2.21)

50 (0.7)

208 (3.67)

105 (1.35)

78 (1.12)

43 (0.67)

   > 34

15 (0.1)

67 (0.54)

16 (0.23)

34 (0.6)

12 (0.15)

15 (0.21)

4 (0.07)

  No education

12,784 (84.32)

8717 (70.93)

4544 (63.56)

1552 (27.36)

4648 (59.61)

5437 (77.92)

2680 (41.66)

  Primary

1610 (10.62)

2068 (16.83)

1869 (26.15)

1141 (20.1)

1122 (14.39)

843 (12.09)

1960 (30.47)

  Secondary

695 (4.59)

1372 (11.16)

662 (9.26)

2730 (48.1)

1777 (22.79)

609 (8.73)

1610 (25.02)

  Higher

72 (0.48)

133 (1.08)

74 (1.03)

252 (4.44)

251 (3.21)

88 (1.26)

183 (2.85)

  Not currently employed

3427 (22.6)

3760 (30.6)

2085 (29.16)

1174 (20.68)

4060 (52.07)

1418 (20.33)

2745 (42.68)

  Currently employed

11,735 (77.4)

8529 (69.4)

5064 (70.84)

4501 (79.32)

3738 (47.93)

5559 (79.67)

3687 (57.32)

  Not current married

410 (2.7)

702 (5.71)

1081 (15.13)

814 (14.35)

496 (6.37)

495 (7.09)

1572 (24.44)

  Currently married/union

14,752 (97.3)

11,588 (94.29)

6068 (84.87)

4861 (85.65)

7301 (93.63)

6482 (92.91)

4860 (75.56)

  Urban

2546 (16.79)

4995 (40.64)

2688 (37.6)

2553 (44.99)

3724 (47.76)

1832 (26.26)

3207 (49.85)

  Rural

12,616 (83.21)

7295 (59.36)

4461 (62.4)

3122 (55.01)

4074 (52.24)

5144 (73.74)

3226 (50.15)

  Poorest

3142 (20.72)

2536 (20.64)

1770 (24.76)

1258 (22.17)

1566 (20.09)

1569 (22.49)

1557 (24.2)

  Poorer

3317 (21.87)

2451 (19.94)

1592 (22.27)

1193 (21.03)

1715 (21.99)

1535 (21.99)

1438 (22.36)

  Middle

3283 (21.66)

2417 (19.67)

1360 (19.03)

1111 (19.57)

1560 (20)

1433 (20.53)

1358 (21.12)

  Richer

3147 (20.76)

2469 (20.09)

1346 (18.82)

1069 (18.84)

1584 (20.32)

1371 (19.65)

1217 (18.92)

  Richest

2273 (14.99)

2416 (19.66)

1081 (15.13)

1044 (18.4)

1373 (17.6)

1070 (15.33)

862 (13.4)

  Christian

4033 (26.6)

6907 (56.2)

2876 (40.23)

4291 (75.61)

188 (2.41)

545 (7.81)

5428 (84.38)

  Muslim

9678 (63.83)

2916 (23.73)

2986 (41.76)

964 (16.99)

7609 (97.58)

6126 (87.81)

749 (11.65)

  No religion

158 (1.04)

626 (5.09)

1002 (14.01)

236 (4.16)

0 (0.01)

283 (4.05)

219 (3.41)

  Other religion

1 (0.01)

1554 (12.65)

286 (4)

–

–

23 (0.33)

1 (0.01)

  Traditional

1291 (8.51)

287 (2.33)

–

183 (3.23)

–

–

35 (0.55)

  Singleton

14,576 (96.14)

11,686 (95.09)

6815 (95.33)

5388 (94.94)

7538 (96.67)

6673 (95.65)

6197 (96.33)

  Multiple

586 (3.86)

604 (4.91)

334 (4.67)

287 (5.06)

260 (3.33)

304 (4.35)

236 (3.67)

  Male

7683 (50.67)

6322 (51.45)

3601 (50.37)

2962 (52.2)

3965 (50.85)

3576 (51.25)

3284 (51.05)

  Female

7479 (49.33)

5967 (48.55)

3548 (49.63)

2713 (47.8)

3833 (49.15)

3401 (48.75)

3149 (48.95)

  Large

4629 (30.53)

2215 (18.02)

3552 (49.68)

2899 (51.09)

3964 (50.84)

3372 (48.33)

2973 (46.23)

  Average

8534 (56.28)

8408 (68.41)

2475 (34.62)

1880 (33.13)

2173 (27.86)

2706 (38.79)

2182 (33.92)

  Small

1999 (13.18)

1667 (13.57)

1122 (15.69)

896 (15.78)

1661 (21.3)

899 (12.89)

1277 (19.85)

  1st-3rd

7813 (51.53)

7345 (59.76)

4215 (58.96)

3539 (62.35)

4334 (55.58)

3818 (54.72)

3857 (59.96)

  4th–6th

5058 (33.36)

3952 (32.16)

2103 (29.41)

1692 (29.82)

2483 (31.84)

2242 (32.13)

1833 (28.5)

  7th + chi

2291 (15.11)

993 (8.08)

831 (11.63)

444 (7.83)

981 (12.58)

917 (13.15)

743 (11.54)

   < 12 months

2848 (18.78)

2695 (21.93)

1678 (23.47)

1393 (24.55)

1730 (22.19)

1586 (22.73)

1633 (25.39)

  11 to 23 months

1531 (10.1)

1412 (11.49)

755 (10.57)

550 (9.7)

856 (10.98)

663 (9.5)

705 (10.96)

  24 to 35 months

4660 (30.74)

3416 (27.8)

1806 (25.27)

1297 (22.86)

2520 (32.32)

1885 (27.02)

1496 (23.25)

   > 35 months

6123 (40.38)

4766 (38.78)

2909 (40.69)

2434 (42.89)

2691 (34.51)

2843 (40.75)

2599 (40.4)

  Skilled delivery

10,099 (66.61)

10,888 (88.6)

4206 (58.84)

4147 (73.07)

4905 (62.91)

2836 (40.65)

3580 (55.65)

  Unskilled delivery

5062 (33.39)

1401 (11.4)

2943 (41.16)

1528 (26.93)

2893 (37.09)

4141 (59.35)

2853 (44.35)

  SVD

14,871 (98.08)

11,597 (94.37)

6951 (97.23)

4954 (87.3)

7641 (97.99)

6806 (97.56)

6185 (96.16)

  Caesarea

291 (1.92)

692 (5.63)

198 (2.77)

721 (12.7)

157 (2.01)

170 (2.44)

247 (3.84)

  Alive

13,828 (91.2)

11,725 (95.4)

6567 (91.86)

5423 (95.56)

7498 (96.15)

6386 (91.53)

5988 (93.09)

  Dead

1334 (8.8)

565 (4.6)

582 (8.14)

252 (4.44)

300 (3.85)

591 (8.47)

444 (6.91)

Characteristics

Mali

Nigeria

Niger

Sierra Leone

Togo

Overall

Total

9964

30,540

12,767

8359

6581

129,693

 Current age (mean + S.E)

28.51 ± 0.1

29.38 ± 0.07

28.88 ± 0.11

28.91 ± 0.12

30.07 ± 0.11

29.13 ± 0.03

  15–19

739 (7.42)

1531 (5.01)

728 (5.7)

830 (9.93)

240 (3.64)

7577 (5.84)

  20–24

2112 (21.2)

5961 (19.52)

2714 (21.26)

1696 (20.29)

1150 (17.48)

27,064 (20.87)

  25–29

2846 (28.57)

8510 (27.86)

3534 (27.68)

2085 (24.94)

1857 (28.22)

35,744 (27.56)

  30–34

2128 (21.36)

6702 (21.95)

2805 (21.97)

1586 (18.97)

1540 (23.41)

28,114 (21.68)

  35–39

1347 (13.52)

4747 (15.54)

1822 (14.27)

1313 (15.71)

1101 (16.74)

19,152 (14.77)

  40–44

600 (6.03)

2228 (7.3)

855 (6.7)

536 (6.42)

496 (7.53)

8925 (6.88)

  45–49

191 (1.92)

861 (2.82)

310 (2.43)

313 (3.75)

196 (2.97)

3118 (2.4)

 Age at first birth (mean + S.E)

18.61 ± 0.07

19.32 ± 0.07

18.04 ± 0.05

18.75 ± 0.06

20.33 ± 0.08

19.1 ± 0.02

   < 15

1151 (11.55)

2469 (8.09)

1159 (9.08)

836 (10)

265 (4.03)

9770 (7.53)

  15–19

5374 (53.94)

15,784 (51.68)

8190 (64.15)

4557 (54.52)

2836 (43.1)

69,898 (53.89)

  20–24

2673 (26.83)

8599 (28.16)

2774 (21.73)

2305 (27.57)

2566 (38.99)

37,775 (29.13)

  25–29

595 (5.97)

2907 (9.52)

562 (4.4)

541 (6.47)

713 (10.83)

9882 (7.62)

  30–34

140 (1.41)

678 (2.22)

80 (0.62)

104 (1.24)

178 (2.71)

2032 (1.57)

   > 34

30 (0.31)

103 (0.34)

1 (0.01)

16 (0.19)

22 (0.34)

336 (0.26)

  No education

8283 (83.13)

15,093 (49.42)

10,963 (85.87)

5574 (66.69)

2681 (40.74)

82,958 (63.96)

  Primary

896 (8.99)

5879 (19.25)

1268 (9.93)

1167 (13.96)

2407 (36.57)

22,230 (17.14)

  Secondary

717 (7.2)

7826 (25.62)

497 (3.89)

1504 (17.99)

1392 (21.16)

21,390 (16.49)

  Higher

67 (0.67)

1742 (5.7)

39 (0.3)

114 (1.36)

101 (1.53)

3115 (2.4)

  Not currently employed

5641 (56.62)

9500 (31.11)

9876 (77.36)

2064 (24.7)

1327 (20.17)

47,078 (36.3)

  Currently employed

4323 (43.38)

21,040 (68.89)

2891 (22.64)

6294 (75.3)

5253 (79.83)

82,615 (63.7)

  Not current married

251 (2.52)

1289 (4.22)

238 (1.86)

1313 (15.7)

476 (7.23)

9136 (7.04)

  Currently married/union

9712 (97.48)

29,251 (95.78)

12,529 (98.14)

7046 (84.3)

6105 (92.77)

120,557 (92.96)

  Urban

1932 (19.39)

10,617 (34.76)

1630 (12.77)

2265 (27.1)

2363 (35.9)

40,351 (31.11)

  Rural

8032 (80.61)

19,924 (65.24)

11,137 (87.23)

6094 (72.9)

4218 (64.1)

89,342 (68.89)

  Poorest

2029 (20.36)

7248 (23.73)

2526 (19.79)

1850 (22.13)

1441 (21.9)

28,492 (21.97)

  Poorer

2075 (20.83)

7104 (23.26)

2597 (20.34)

1760 (21.06)

1316 (20)

28,092 (21.66)

  Middle

2053 (20.6)

5758 (18.85)

2671 (20.92)

1734 (20.74)

1304 (19.82)

26,043 (20.08)

  Richer

2106 (21.14)

5392 (17.66)

2749 (21.53)

1643 (19.65)

1284 (19.52)

25,378 (19.57)

  Richest

1700 (17.07)

5039 (16.5)

2224 (17.42)

1372 (16.42)

1234 (18.76)

21,688 (16.72)

  Christian

416 (4.18)

11,185 (36.62)

–

1537 (18.39)

3429 (52.11)

40,835 (31.49)

  Muslim

9198 (92.32)

19,066 (62.43)

–

6797 (81.32)

1224 (18.6)

67,315 (51.9)

  No religion

243 (2.44)

–

–

4 (0.04)

622 (9.46)

3393 (2.62)

  Other religion

106 (1.07)

9 (0.03)

–

17 (0.21)

4 (0.06)

2001 (1.54)

  Tradition

–

281 (0.92)

–

3 (0.04)

1301 (19.77)

3381 (2.61)

  Singleton

9640 (96.75)

29,475 (96.51)

12,338 (96.64)

8172 (97.77)

6260 (95.13)

124,759 (96.2)

  Multiple

324 (3.25)

1065 (3.49)

429 (3.36)

186 (2.23)

320 (4.87)

4934 (3.8)

  Male

5141 (51.59)

15,399 (50.42)

6448 (50.51)

4126 (49.36)

3320 (50.45)

65,826 (50.76)

  Female

4823 (48.41)

15,142 (49.58)

6319 (49.49)

4233 (50.64)

3261 (49.55)

63,867 (49.24)

  Large

4313 (43.29)

13,350 (43.71)

2374 (18.59)

3731 (44.63)

2228 (33.86)

49,601 (38.24)

  Average

4295 (43.11)

12,531 (41.03)

7059 (55.29)

3196 (38.24)

3274 (49.75)

58,713 (45.27)

  Small

1355 (13.6)

4659 (15.26)

3334 (26.11)

1432 (17.13)

1079 (16.39)

21,379 (16.48)

  1st-3rd

5172 (51.91)

15,716 (51.46)

5371 (42.07)

4444 (53.17)

3901 (59.29)

69,525 (53.61)

  4th–6th

3526 (35.39)

9705 (31.78)

4456 (34.9)

2783 (33.29)

2018 (30.66)

41,850 (32.27)

  7th + chi

1265 (12.7)

5120 (16.76)

2940 (23.03)

1131 (13.54)

662 (10.05)

18,318 (14.12)

   < 12 months

1948 (19.55)

6135 (20.09)

1932 (15.14)

1763 (21.09)

1584 (24.07)

26,925 (20.76)

  11 to 23 months

1563 (15.69)

5481 (17.95)

2397 (18.77)

896 (10.72)

638 (9.7)

17,449 (13.45)

  24 to 35 months

2887 (28.97)

9630 (31.53)

4724 (37)

2199 (26.31)

1597 (24.27)

38,118 (29.39)

   > 35 months

3566 (35.79)

9295 (30.43)

3714 (29.09)

3500 (41.88)

2761 (41.96)

47,201 (36.39)

  Skilled delivery

5624 (56.44)

10,831 (35.46)

3801 (29.77)

4812 (57.57)

4800 (72.95)

70,529 (54.38)

  Unskilled delivery

4340 (43.56)

19,709 (64.54)

8966 (70.23)

3547 (42.43)

1780 (27.05)

59,163 (45.62)

  SVD

9690 (97.25)

29,910 (97.93)

12,584 (98.56)

8016 (95.91)

6144 (93.36)

125,350 (96.65)

  Caesarea

274 (2.75)

631 (2.07)

183 (1.44)

342 (4.09)

437 (6.64)

4343 (3.35)

  Alive

9268 (93.02)

27,898 (91.35)

11,738 (91.94)

7703 (92.16)

6206 (94.31)

120,228 (92.7)

  Dead

695 (6.98)

2643 (8.65)

1029 (8.06)

656 (7.84)

375 (5.69)

9465 (7.3)