Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Table 7.1 shows fertility preferences among currently married women and men by number ofchildren at the time of survey. The table also shows disparities in the desire for more children betweenwomen and men, with more men than women desiring another child regardless of the number ofsurviving children. Overall, 67 percent of married men want another child, compared with only60 percent of married women. Men are also more likely to want their next child soon, whereas womenare more likely to want to wait two years for their next child. For example, 13 percent of married womenwith four children want another child within 2 years, compared with 32 percent of men with the samenumber of children.Table 7.1 Fertility preferences by number of living childrenPercent distribution of currently married women and currently married men by desire for children, according to numberof living children, Zambia 2001-2002–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Number of living children 1All––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– women/Desire for children 0 1 2 3 4 5 6+ men–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––WOMEN–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Have another soon 2 85.2 33.0 20.7 16.8 13.4 7.7 3.2 20.5Have another later 3 5.1 57.4 53.6 48.7 36.5 27.4 11.0 37.4Have another, undecided when 3.0 3.3 2.9 2.5 2.1 1.8 0.5 2.2Undecided 1.5 1.2 1.9 2.6 4.7 4.2 2.3 2.5Want no more 1.4 4.0 18.4 26.7 40.6 53.9 74.1 33.5Sterilised 4 0.0 0.2 0.5 1.2 1.4 3.2 6.2 2.0Declared infecund 3.8 0.9 1.8 1.1 0.9 1.5 2.3 1.6Missing 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100Number 282 829 851 754 587 449 941 4,694–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––MEN–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Have another soon 88.4 49.9 37.2 31.7 32.2 26.9 21.1 35.2Have another later 3.9 39.8 44.2 38.2 34.9 18.3 12.1 27.2Have another, undecided when 5.4 4.5 4.2 4.5 3.3 4.7 3.7 4.2Undecided 0.0 1.7 1.3 4.7 3.5 0.9 2.3 2.3Want no more 2.3 4.0 13.1 20.5 26.1 49.3 60.1 31.0Declared infecund 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.2Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100Number 81 171 189 175 146 120 366 1,248–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––1Includes current pregnancy2Wants next birth within 2 years3Wants to delay next birth for 2 or more years4Includes both female and male sterilisationAccording to the results of the 2001-2002 ZDHS, women who want to have their first child soonhas remained stable when compared with the 1996 ZDHS. However, there is a large increase in theproportion of men who want their first child soon between 1996 and 2001-2002 ZDHS (58 percent and88 percent, respectively). This large change, which seems unexpected, deserves further investigation, butmay reflect variability due to the small number of men in the category.Thirty-six percent of married women and 31 percent of men want no more children or have beensterilised. The desire to end childbearing increases with the number of living children, increasing from4 percent for women with only one child to 80 percent for women with 6 or more children (Figure 7.2).The desire to end childbearing for men increases from 4 percent for men with only one child to 60 percentfor men with 6 or more children.106 │ Fertility Preferences and Unmet Need