PIP: A demographer has analyzed data on women aged 15-19 from the Demographic and Health Surveys of Mali and of Senegal to compare their adolescent fertility rates and the determinants of adolescent fertility. 50% of married women in Mali were first married at 15.7 years compared to 16.6 years in Senegal. 30% of teens were married before age 14 in Mali compared to 14% in Senegal. In fact, single women were two times more common in Senegal than in Mali (56.5% vs. 24.6%). 71.5% of teens in Mali were married compared to 41.9% in Senegal. 28% of female teens lived in urban areas in Mali compared to 44.8% in Senegal. In Mali, the marriage law states that men must be at least 18 and women must be at least 15. Reasons women marry before age 15 include marriage based on degree of physical development rather than age, unofficial weddings, and misrepresentation of age. Thus, it is not unusual to meet married women aged 13, 14, and 15 in rural areas. In Senegal, however, the minimum marriage age was 20 for men and 16 for women. Despite the differences, among married women, pregnant adolescents comprised the same proportion (16.5% in Mali and 16.9% in Senegal). Yet, 44.5% of female teens in Mali have a child compared to 26.1% in Senegal. Fecund teens comprised 59.4% in Mali and 54.5% in Senegal. Even though teens in Mali were less likely to know about contraception (41.3% vs. 74.6%), they were more likely to use it (16.1% vs. 11.5%). They may have been using it to space their second birth. Between 1957-1961 and 1967-1971, adolescent fertility remained constant, while it increased during the 1970s. It fell during 1982-1986. In Senegal, between 1956-1960 and 1961-1965, adolescent fertility increased, while it remained constant between 1961-1965 and 1976-1980. During 1981-1985, it decreased markedly. The decrease in adolescent fertility in the 1980s paralleled an increase in female education.