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Policy makers tend to focus upon demographic growth and the “security risks” of the Sahel. Focusing on a more intimate scale sheds light on the choices that individuals and families make in light of the restrictions placed on their movements, on their access to production, and on their prospects for marriage and child rearing. Looking at gender and generation prompts an awareness of subfertility, of the problem of how to marry and have children, and of how security and population policies inadvertently increase the vulnerability of young people and women seeking to enter adulthood.