United States aid policy and induced abortion in sub-Saharan Africa
Eran Bendavid, Patrick Avila & Grant Miller
Volume 89, Number 12, December 2011, 873-880C
Table 2. Characteristics of the 20 countries included in a study of abortion rates and exposure to the Mexico City Policy, compared with all sub-Saharan Africa, 1994–2008
| Country characteristics | Countries, by level of exposure to the Mexico City Policya |
P for difference by exposurec | All sub-Saharan African countriesd | P for difference by country groupe | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allb | Low | High | ||||
| Mean life expectancy, years | 52.0 | 50.6 | 53.4 | 0.26 | 52.8 | 0.69 |
| Mean population in an urban environment, % | 29.6 | 30.1 | 28.1 | 0.62 | 36.9 | 0.07 |
| Mean country population, millions | 20.0 | 26.7 | 13.3 | 0.25 | 19.0 | 0.86 |
| Total population in all countries in 2008, millions | 400 | 267 | 133 | NA | 816 | NA |
| Per capita gross domestic product, US dollarsf | 1353 | 1462 | 1245 | 0.61 | 2964 | 0.21 |
| Women using modern contraceptives, % | ||||||
| 1994 | 11.9 | 14.7 | 9.0 | 0.28 | NA | NA |
| 2008 | 18.9 | 22.2 | 15.6 | 0.34 | NA | NA |
NA, not available; US; United States.
a Exposure to the Mexico City Policy was classified as high or low according to whether the level of per capita financial assistance provided to the country for family planning and reproductive health by the United States was above or below the median for the period 1995 to 2000.
b Includes data for all women reported in 30 Demographic and Health Surveys carried out in 20 sub-Saharan African countries between 1994 and 2008.
c P-value for two-sided t-test of the difference in descriptive parameters between countries with low and high levels of exposure.
d Data for all sub-Saharan African countries, including the study countries.
e P-value for the difference in descriptive parameters between all study countries and all sub-Saharan African countries.
f The per capita gross domestic product is corrected for purchasing power parity in 2011.