Environment & Energy

I think that reasoning is fading fast in Africa. What's often lacking though is modern contraception. Hell, "modern contraception" includes the birth control pill, which in actual "usage" in the U.S. has about a 1 chance in 11 per year of failure (9%/year). It's failure rate is much much lower (0.3%/year) when it is meticulously taken as instructed.

From the December 2017 issue of Population Connection magazine, which has all the contraceptives and methods
http://www.populationconnection.org/magazine/december-2017/

In many African nations I suspect the failure rate would be on average higher than 9% as so many live near the limits of survivor in chaotic conditions.

Even in the U.S. .... where nearly half of pregnancies are unintended ... (due to shitty cheap birth control methods like the pill. Results are much better with LARC (long acting reversible contraceptives), such as the implant (0.05% failure rate, but expensive).

From the December 2017 issue of Population Connection magazine, which is focused on male contraception.
http://www.populationconnection.org/magazine/december-2017/

Another is that the attitude of too many men is well ... anyway, many African women feel the need to hide their contraception-taking. That's hard to do with the pill ... and being secretive makes it that much harder to stick to taking every day at about the same time each day.

Whereas the implant, besides being much more reliable, is also hidden.

The "social security" of large families doesn't seem to be a big concern in Addis Ababa (near replacement level fertility) or in Botswana (fewer than 3 children/woman average).

Just getting these impressions from reading Population Connection magazine and various articles from wherever I run into them...