Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

The mean ideal number of children for women is 4.7, compared with 5.3 for men. The numberincreases with the number of living children and ranges from 3.9 for women without any children to 6.2for those with at least 6 children. For married women, the ideal number of children is higher (5.1) thanthat of all women (4.7). There are two principal reasons for this pattern. First, to the extent that womenare able to implement their fertility desires, women who want smaller families will tend to achievesmaller families. Second, some women may have difficulty admitting that they would have had fewerchildren if they could begin childbearing again. Such women are likely to report their actual number ofchildren as their preferred number. As with women, the mean ideal number of children increases with thenumber of children that the man has and ranges from 4.5 among those without a child to 7.6 among thosewho already have 6 children.The levels of ideal family size exceed the four children espoused as the ideal family size in theNational Population Policy and imply that efforts to encourage smaller family size norms might bewarranted. However, comparison with the 1992 and 1996 ZDHS surveys demonstrates that there has beena decline in ideal family size among women over time from a mean of 5.8 children in 1992 to 5.3 childrenin 1996 and to 4.7 in 2001-2002.The data also provide evidence of unwanted fertility. This is shown by the proportion ofrespondents. For example, among women with six or more children, 37 percent who said that they wouldideally have liked fewer children than they actually have.Table 7.5 shows the mean ideal number of children for all women by age according tobackground characteristics and for all men by background characteristics.Table 7.5 Mean ideal number of children by background characteristicsMean ideal number of children for all women by age and mean ideal number of children forall men, according to background characteristics, Zambia 2001-2002BackgroundAgecharacteristic 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49AllwomenAllmenResidenceUrban 3.3 3.5 3.9 4.4 5.1 5.5 6.2 4.0 4.4Rural 4.5 4.7 5.0 5.6 6.0 6.5 6.5 5.2 5.9ProvinceCentral 3.7 3.9 4.5 4.9 5.3 5.8 5.6 4.5 5.0Copperbelt 3.5 3.7 4.1 4.5 5.4 5.6 6.6 4.2 4.6Eastern 4.0 4.2 4.6 5.3 5.8 6.3 6.7 4.9 5.5Luapula 4.6 5.0 5.2 5.7 6.3 (6.1) 6.4 5.4 5.8Lusaka 3.1 3.3 3.9 4.3 4.9 5.7 (5.3) 3.9 4.2Northern 4.1 4.7 4.9 5.6 6.2 6.3 6.8 5.1 6.3North-Western 4.8 4.7 5.2 5.7 6.3 6.8 7.5 5.4 6.1Southern 4.2 4.5 4.5 5.2 5.3 5.9 (5.7) 4.8 5.5Western 5.3 5.2 5.1 6.0 6.6 7.3 (7.5) 5.8 6.7EducationNo education 4.9 5.2 5.1 5.9 6.1 7.0 6.8 5.7 6.0Primary 4.2 4.5 4.9 5.4 6.0 6.3 6.4 5.0 5.9Secondary or higher 3.4 3.4 3.7 4.1 4.6 5.0 5.8 3.8 4.5All women 4.0 4.2 4.5 5.1 5.7 6.1 6.4 4.7 5.3Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25-49 births.Fertility Preferences and Unmet Need │ 113