Counting Babies in Niger

Malamharu Musa has 15 children with his two wives, and he says he might yet have a couple more. He is a farmer in rural Zinder in southern Niger. He says his children help him in the fields and Allah will help him feed them. In his village Mr Musa is not unusual. Women in Niger have more children, on average, than anywhere else in the world.

More than half the girls are married by the age of 15, soon to become mothers themselves. But Mr Musa is starting to realise that having so many children isn’t necessarily good for his wives, for the kids, or for the village. The government of Niger has already reached that conclusion – it can’t support such a fast growing population and has ambitious targets to reduce the fertility rate.

So is it time for traditions to change? For Assignment, Alastair Leithead reports from Niger, on the frontline of Africa’s massive population explosion.