Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

7.3 UNMET NEED FOR FAMILY PLANNINGWomen who say either that they do not want any more children or that they want to wait two ormore years before having another child, but are not using contraception, are considered to have an unmetneed for family planning. Women who are using family planning methods are said to have a met need forfamily planning. Women with unmet need and met need together constitute the total demand for familyplanning, which can be categorised based on whether the need is for spacing or limiting births.Table 7.3 shows the proportions of currently married women with unmet need and met need, andthe total demand for family planning by background characteristics, according to intention to space orlimit births. The data show that 27 percent of married women have unmet need for family planning, thesame proportion as in 1996. Unmet need for spacing is greater than unmet need for limiting children(17 percent and 11 percent, respectively). Comparing data from the 1996 and 2001-2002 ZDHS surveys,unmet need for spacing has declined somewhat (from 19 percent to 17 percent), while unmet need forlimiting has increased (from 8 percent to 11 percent). Unmet need generally rises with age, falling off atthe oldest age group. As expected, younger women (15-29) have a higher unmet need for spacing, whilethe unmet need for limiting births is higher in older women (35-49).The table indicates that rural women have a higher unmet need for family planning (29 percent)compared with their urban counterparts (26 percent). It is interesting to note that whereas rural womenhave a higher unmet need for spacing (19 percent) compared with urban women (14 percent), urbanwomen have a higher unmet need for limiting (12 percent) compared with rural women (10 percent).Unmet need for family planning is highest in Southern and Central provinces (34 percent and33 percent) and lowest in Luapula (19 percent). Lusaka, Luapula and Copperbelt lead the rest of theprovinces with a satisfied demand for family planning of above 60 percent. Central province has thelowest satisfied demand of all provinces (44 percent).Women with higher than secondary education have a lower unmet need for family planning(16 percent) compared with women with no education and those with primary education whose unmetneed for family planning is 27 percent and 29 percent, respectively. Total demand for family planningincreases with women’s education level. The demand satisfied follows the same pattern. Overall, thepercentage of demand satisfied ranges from 46 percent for women with no education to 79 percent forwomen with higher education.Much of the unmet need for family planning in Zambia results from women’s fear of the healthside effects associated with contraceptive methods, especially the pill and injectables. Studies indicatethat fear of side effects prevents many women from using modern methods of contraception (PopulationCouncil, 1998).Fertility Preferences and Unmet Need │ 109