Analysis of data from the 1991 Cameroon Demographic Health Survey (N = 3,879 women, ages 15-49) demonstrates that married women, women in co-residential informal unions, & those in non-co-residential unions have different perceptions of the advantages & disadvantages of having many children. These findings are important for improving the efficiency of future population policies designed to reduce levels of fertility. The results also show that non-co-residential & co- residential informal unions are conceptually different from marriage, which strongly suggests that the reported increases in the prevalence of informal unions in many African societies indicate an important change in the African family, implications of which are as yet poorly understood. 5 Tables, 60 References. Adapted from the source document