Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics (weighted data) of women surveyeda in 10 western African countries, 2005–2007.
| Characteristic | Sierra Leone (n = 9 381) (%) |
Gambia (n = 9 982) (%) |
Burkina Faso (n = 7 316) (%) |
Mauritania (n = 12 549) (%) |
Guinea-Bissau (n = 8 010) (%) |
Côte d'Ivoire (n = 12 888) (%) |
Nigeria (n = 24 566) (%) |
Togo (n = 6 211) (%) |
Ghana (n = 5 890) (%) |
Niger (n = 9 223) (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | ||||||||||
| 15–19 | 14.4 | 22.9 | 20.3 | 21.7 | 21.8 | 22.5 | 17.2 | 18.2 | 20.7 | 18.6 |
| 20–24 | 15.3 | 20.3 | 16.8 | 20.8 | 20.8 | 20.0 | 17.5 | 16.8 | 18.3 | 17.9 |
| 25–29 | 23.3 | 19.2 | 18.3 | 15.1 | 18.9 | 17.9 | 20.2 | 19.4 | 16.8 | 19.4 |
| 30–34 | 15.4 | 13.5 | 14.4 | 13.9 | 13.0 | 12.8 | 16.2 | 14.8 | 13.2 | 14.7 |
| 35–39 | 16.4 | 10.5 | 12.2 | 12.0 | 11.4 | 10.9 | 12.8 | 14.5 | 12.7 | 12.6 |
| 40–44 | 9.3 | 8.2 | 10.1 | 9.1 | 7.8 | 9.9 | 9.2 | 9.2 | 9.8 | 9.6 |
| 45–49 | 5.9 | 5.4 | 7.9 | 7.3 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 6.8 | 7.2 | 8.6 | 7.1 |
| Educational level | ||||||||||
| None | 73.9 | 54.0 | 75.4 | 23.5 | 57.7 | 53.0 | 40.7 | 38.6 | 26.3 | 83.5 |
| Primary | 11.0 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 32.7 | 26.5 | 27.1 | 19.0 | 34.2 | 19.7 | 10.4 |
| Beyond primary | 15.1 | 27.3 | 11.0 | 20.4 | 15.9 | 19.9 | 40.3 | 26.9 | 53.9 | 6.1 |
| Non-standard/Madrasab | – | 7.0 | – | 23.4 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Marital status | ||||||||||
| Never married | 14.7 | 26.8 | 20.6 | 28.4 | 29.0 | 38.5 | 25.9 | 25.4 | 30.2 | 9.9 |
| Currently married | 79.5 | 68.6 | 75.3 | 58.6 | 65.0 | 40.1 | 70.2 | 66.1 | 58.8 | 86.1 |
| Formerly married | 5.8 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 13.0 | 6.1 | 21.4 | 3.9 | 8.5 | 11.0 | 4.0 |
| Wealth quintile | ||||||||||
| Lowest | 19.4 | 17.1 | 17.7 | 17.8 | 18.7 | 17.6 | 18.1 | 15.7 | 16.2 | 19.0 |
| Second | 20.3 | 19.0 | 19.0 | 17.5 | 17.9 | 17.3 | 18.6 | 17.0 | 17.6 | 19.3 |
| Middle | 19.8 | 20.2 | 19.3 | 18.8 | 18.6 | 18.7 | 18.8 | 17.9 | 19.5 | 19.0 |
| Fourth | 19.7 | 21.4 | 19.7 | 22.0 | 20.3 | 21.2 | 20.8 | 23.6 | 22.0 | 20.7 |
| Highest | 20.7 | 22.3 | 24.4 | 23.9 | 24.6 | 25.2 | 23.7 | 25.8 | 24.6 | 22.0 |
| Religion | ||||||||||
| Non-Muslim | 21.1 | 3.8 | 37.7 | NA | 56.1 | 64.4 | 53.0 | 86.5 | 84.7 | 2.4 |
| Muslim | 77.9 | 96.2 | 62.3 | NA | 43.9 | 35.6 | 47.0 | 13.5 | 15.3 | 98.6 |
NA, not available.
a In third round of Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.
b Non-standard education in Gambia and Madrasa education/Koranic school in Mauritania were included in the analysis because of the high percentages of women who selected these categories.