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Factors associated with unmet fertility desire and perceptions of ideal family size among women in Bangladesh: Insights from a nationwide Demographic and Health Survey
journal contribution
posted on 2020-05-01, 00:00 authored by R Akram, A R Sarker, N Sheikh, N Ali, M G N Mozumder, Marufa SultanaIntroduction
Along with the developing world, Bangladesh has made a tremendous improvement in declining total fertility rate, however, this declining trend is not uniform to all the socio-demographic stratum. Incongruities exist between the numbers of children that women bearing and what they actually desired which refers to unmet fertility desire. This study aims to elicit women’s perception of ideal number of children and predictors of unmet fertility desire in Bangladesh.
Method
This study analyzed nationally representative cross-sectional Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2014 data. A two-stage stratified random sampling technique was used while a total of 17,863 ever-married women were interviewed between June and November 2014. A total of 10,912 eligible women were included in the analysis. Poisson regression analysis and logistic regression models were used to measure women’s perception of the ideal number of children and to determine the influencing factors of unmet fertility desires.
Result
The mean value of the perceived ideal number of children was 2.22 (SD ± 0.73) and the majority of women (71.2%) expect to have two children in their lifetime. Approximately 46% of mothers reported bearing more children than they desired. The perceived ideal number of children was significantly higher among women who were living in rural areas, from Sylhet division, Muslim, unemployed, and experienced child death and those who justified beating. Findings revealed that several factors such as place of residence, geographic location, religion, wealth index, maternal age and education, partners’ education, experiencing child death, and other empowerment-related indicators were significantly associated with unmet fertility desires.
Conclusion
Perceived ideal number of children differs among women’s socioeconomic and demographic strata. Unmet fertility desire was also found which indicates that reproductive knowledge and health care services are still necessary for some socio-demographically disadvantaged/vulnerable people and this group should be regularly monitored to control population growth.
Along with the developing world, Bangladesh has made a tremendous improvement in declining total fertility rate, however, this declining trend is not uniform to all the socio-demographic stratum. Incongruities exist between the numbers of children that women bearing and what they actually desired which refers to unmet fertility desire. This study aims to elicit women’s perception of ideal number of children and predictors of unmet fertility desire in Bangladesh.
Method
This study analyzed nationally representative cross-sectional Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2014 data. A two-stage stratified random sampling technique was used while a total of 17,863 ever-married women were interviewed between June and November 2014. A total of 10,912 eligible women were included in the analysis. Poisson regression analysis and logistic regression models were used to measure women’s perception of the ideal number of children and to determine the influencing factors of unmet fertility desires.
Result
The mean value of the perceived ideal number of children was 2.22 (SD ± 0.73) and the majority of women (71.2%) expect to have two children in their lifetime. Approximately 46% of mothers reported bearing more children than they desired. The perceived ideal number of children was significantly higher among women who were living in rural areas, from Sylhet division, Muslim, unemployed, and experienced child death and those who justified beating. Findings revealed that several factors such as place of residence, geographic location, religion, wealth index, maternal age and education, partners’ education, experiencing child death, and other empowerment-related indicators were significantly associated with unmet fertility desires.
Conclusion
Perceived ideal number of children differs among women’s socioeconomic and demographic strata. Unmet fertility desire was also found which indicates that reproductive knowledge and health care services are still necessary for some socio-demographically disadvantaged/vulnerable people and this group should be regularly monitored to control population growth.
History
Journal
PLoS ONEVolume
15Issue
5Article number
e0233634Pagination
1 - 17Publisher
Public Library of ScienceLocation
San Francisco, Calif.Publisher DOI
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ISSN
1932-6203eISSN
1932-6203Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
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