Bangladesh 1993-1994 Demographic and Health ... - Measure DHS

Percent100Figure 6.2Fertility Preferences of Married Womenby Number of Living Children8060402o00 1 2 3 4 5Number of Living Children6+Note: "Want no more" includes sterilized women BDHS 1993-94The desire for additional children declined noticeably in Bangladesh over the past decade. In the1991 CPS, 45 percent (Mitra et al., 1993:84) of married women with two children wanted to have anotherchild in the future; in the 1993-94 BDHS the proportion was only 36 percent--a decline of 9 percentagepoints. Conversely, the percentage of women with two children who want no more children or are sterilizedrises from only 48 percent in the 1991 CPS to 58 percent in the 1993-94 BI)HS. Similar increases in theproportion of women who want to stop childbearing are evident in data from Matlab. In 1977, 37 percentof women in the treatment area said they wanted no more children; by 1990, this proportion had grown to 54percent (ICDDR, B, 1994:3).Table 6.2 shows the percent distribution of currently married women by desire for children accordingto age. The data show that the proportion of women who want no more children increases with age. Ninepercent of the women age 15-19 want no more children or have been sterilized, compared to 73 percent ofwomen age 45-49 years. In contrast, the proportion who want to delay their next birth declines with age, asdoes the proportion of women who want the next birth within two years.83