Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

5.11 FUTURE USE OF CONTRACEPTIONIntention to use family planning is an important indicator of the potential demand for services.Currently married women who were not using contraceptives at the time of the survey and currentlymarried men were asked about their intention to use family planning in the future. The results are shownin Table 5.12. The table reveals that of the currently married non-users, 70 percent of women and72 percent of men intend to use a method of contraception in the future, while 26 percent of women and25 percent of men have no intention to use any method. Four percent each of women and men are not sureof their contraceptive use intention in the future. One reason that more men than women are reported asintending to use in the future is that some of them may already be using contraception.There has been an increase in the percentage of women non-users who intend to use familyplanning over the last few years; from 66 percent in the 1996 ZDHS to 70 percent in the 2001-2002ZDHS.Table 5.12 Future use of contraceptionPercent distribution of currently married women who are not using a contraceptivemethod and currently married men who are not using a contraceptive method byintention to use in the future, according to number of living children, Zambia 2001-2002––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Number of living children 1–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Intention 0 1 2 3 4+ Total––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––WOMEN––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Intends to use 64.9 69.2 74.7 76.7 66.4 69.9Unsure 6.1 5.0 2.7 2.5 3.0 3.5Does not intend to use 29.0 25.9 22.5 20.1 30.2 26.4Missing 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.4 0.3Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0Number 264 578 564 469 1,214 3,089––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––MEN––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Intends to use 70.6 79.3 79.7 75.2 67.5 71.7Unsure 0.0 2.7 1.5 7.0 4.3 3.7Does not intend to use 29.4 18.1 18.8 17.8 28.2 24.7Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0Number 65 82 72 81 340 641––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––1Includes current pregnancyThe proportion of women who intend to use a contraceptive method varies with the number ofliving children. For instance, the proportion of currently married women who intend to use contraceptionis 65 percent of childless women, 75 percent for women with two children and 77 percent of those withthree children. Proportions who do not intend to use contraception generally decrease with increasingnumber of living children. Twenty-nine percent of childless women do not intend to use contraceptioncompared with 20 percent of women with three children. However, this proportion increases to 30 percentof women with at least 4 children.82 │ Fertility Regulation