Changing Living Arrangements of the Young after First Marriage in Urban Mali

Solene Lardoux, Population Council

Changes in family formation have been documented in terms of the postponement of age at marriage and a quasi-constant age at first birth in several African countries. However, the conditions in which young people reach greater autonomy (or not) have been less studied. What are the living arrangements of the young married men and women after marriage and at the time of first birth? The paper will focus on urban areas in Mali where poverty is largely associated to the growing pace of urbanization. The paper will use qualitative data from a study I conducted in Mali in 2004 and quantitative data from a large scale retrospective survey held in 2000. While results of the qualitative interviews give materials for new assumptions on the conditions of living of spouses after first marriage, results of event history analysis provide a better understanding of the association of living standards with family formation.