Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

The ideal family size increases with age, from 4 children among those aged 15-19 to 6.4 amongthose aged 45-49. Ideal family size for both women and men is higher in rural areas than urban areas.The ideal size is the highest in Western province (5.8 for women and 6.7 for men). This confirms thefindings that Western province has the lowest percentage of both men and women who want to limit childbearing as discussed earlier. Copperbelt and Lusaka provinces have the lowest ideal family sizes alongwith the lowest fertility levels and highest contraceptive prevalence rates. There are also variations in theideal family size with level of education reached. Across all age groups, the ideal family size decreaseswith increasing level of education.7.5 WANTED AND UNWANTED FERTILITYThere are two main ways of looking at the issue of unwanted fertility. In the first approach,responses to a question about children born in the five years preceding the survey (and any currentpregnancy) are used to determine whether the pregnancy was planned (wanted then), wanted but at a latertime (mistimed), or unwanted (not wanted at all). The answers to these questions provide some insightinto the degree to which couples are able to control fertility.Table 7.6 shows the percent distribution of births (including current pregnancy) in the five yearspreceding the survey by fertility planning status, according to birth order and mother’s age at birth.Table 7.6 Fertility planning statusPercent distribution of births in the five years preceding the survey (including currentpregnancies) by fertility planning status, according to birth order and mother’s age atbirth, Zambia 2001-2002–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Planning status of birthBirth order –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Numberand mother's Wanted Wanted Wanted ofage at birth then later no more Missing Total births–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Birth order1 62.7 13.6 23.3 0.4 100.0 1,6692 67.7 21.7 10.1 0.5 100.0 1,3923 65.0 24.1 10.6 0.3 100.0 1,1334+ 52.1 24.3 23.4 0.2 100.0 3,236Age at birth