Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Table 6.2 PolygynyPercent distribution of currently married women by number of co-wives and percent distribution of currently marriedmen by number of wives, according to background characteristics, Zambia 2001-2002––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Married women: number of co-wivesMarried men: number of wivesBackground ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––characteristic 0 1 2+ Missing Total Number 1 2+ Total Number––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Age15-19 91.7 6.2 1.5 0.6 100.0 438 * * 100.0 720-24 90.7 7.1 1.6 0.6 100.0 1,086 97.6 2.4 100.0 9125-29 83.7 11.8 4.2 0.3 100.0 1,056 96.0 4.0 100.0 27230-34 81.9 13.6 4.1 0.3 100.0 756 91.0 9.0 100.0 24335-39 77.0 15.3 7.3 0.4 100.0 591 88.9 11.1 100.0 21140-44 75.6 16.0 7.8 0.6 100.0 449 87.2 12.8 100.0 16145-49 78.6 15.4 5.6 0.3 100.0 318 86.4 13.6 100.0 10350-54 na na na na 0.0 0 87.8 12.2 100.0 9555-59 na na na na 0.0 0 85.6 14.4 100.0 65ResidenceUrban 93.8 4.7 1.0 0.5 100.0 1,662 96.8 3.2 100.0 443Rural 78.4 15.3 5.9 0.4 100.0 3,032 87.6 12.4 100.0 805ProvinceCentral 79.6 13.7 6.8 0.0 100.0 346 86.9 13.1 100.0 82Copperbelt 95.7 2.8 0.6 0.9 100.0 871 99.3 0.7 100.0 235Eastern 77.3 16.3 6.1 0.3 100.0 644 85.2 14.8 100.0 184Luapula 83.6 13.7 2.5 0.2 100.0 399 91.1 8.9 100.0 113Lusaka 94.1 4.3 1.2 0.4 100.0 640 94.7 5.3 100.0 173Northern 79.8 15.7 3.8 0.7 100.0 678 90.0 10.0 100.0 178North-Western 86.2 12.0 1.7 0.2 100.0 215 93.3 6.7 100.0 52Southern 69.9 18.2 11.7 0.2 100.0 532 81.9 18.1 100.0 144Western 79.6 14.9 5.2 0.3 100.0 369 91.2 8.7 100.0 86EducationNo education 76.6 16.6 6.7 0.2 100.0 663 89.0 11.0 100.0 73Primary 82.7 12.5 4.2 0.6 100.0 2,905 87.7 12.3 100.0 642Secondary 90.4 6.5 2.9 0.2 100.0 1,006 94.2 5.8 100.0 431Higher 96.3 2.3 1.4 0.0 100.0 120 98.3 1.7 100.0 102Total 83.8 11.6 4.2 0.4 100.0 4,694 90.9 9.1 100.0 1,248––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Note: An asterisk indicates that a figure is based on fewer than 25 unweighted cases and has been suppressed.na = Not applicable6.3 AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGEMarriage is closely associated with fertility because it is directly linked to the probability ofconception. The age at which a woman first marries is important because it affects the length of time awoman is exposed to the risk of pregnancy during her childbearing years. Early marriage tends to lead toearly childbearing and to a greater number of births overall. It also leads to shorter intervals betweengenerations, and, thus higher fertility.Marriage occurs relatively early in Zambia. Almost half of women are married before age 18 and70 percent are married by age 20 (Table 6.3). Although the median age at first marriage appears to haverisen from 17 among women age 45-49 to almost 19 among women age 20-24, some of this increasecould be due to recall error on the part of older respondents. Comparison with data from the 1996 ZDHSshows that the median age at first marriage among women 20-49 has barely changed—from 18.0 to 18.1.Other Determinants of Fertility │ 95