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

One-fifth of married women in Bangladesh have an unmet need for family planning services (seeTable 6.4, column 3)--10 percent for spacing purposes and 9 percent for limiting births. Combined with the45 percent of married women who are currently using a contraceptive method, the total demand for familyplanning comprises almost two-thirds of married women in Bangladesh. Therefore, if all women who saythey want to space or limit their children were to use methods, the contraceptive prevalence rate would beincreased from 45 to 65 percent of married women. Currently, 71 percent of the demand for family planningis being met (see Table 4, next-to-last column).As expected, unmet need for spacing purposes is higher among younger women, while unmet needfor limiting childbearing is higher among older women. The net result is that, except among the veryyoungest and oldest age groups, unmet need varies little by age. The level of unmet need among rural womenis higher than that of urban women. It is highest among women in Chittagong Division (27 percent) andlowest in Khulna and Barisal Divisions (14 and 15 percent, respectively). Unmet need is lower among womenwith at least some secondary schooling than among less educated or uneducated women.There has probably been a decline in the level of unmet need for family planning services since 1991.Although data from the 1991 CPS show that 28 percent of currently married women were in need of services,compared with 19 percent in the 1993-94 BDHS (Mitra et al., 1993:91), differences in the definitions usedin the two surveys account for much of the apparent decline.6.3 Ideal Family SizeIn order to assess ideal fertility preferences, the BDHS included two questions. Women who had nochildren were asked, "If you could choose exactly the number of children to have in your whole life, howmany would that be?" For women who had children, the question was rephrased as follows: "If you couldgo back to the time you did not have any children and could choose exactly the number of children to havein your whole llfe, how many would that be?" These questions on ideal family size aimed at two things: first,among women who have not started childbearing, the data provide an idea of the total number of childrenthese women will have in the future (to the extent that women are able to realize their fertility desires).Second, among older, higher parity women, these data provide a measure of the level of unwanted fertility.It should be noted that some women, especially those for whom fertility control is an unfamiliar concept, mayhave had difficulty answering this hypothetical question.The data in Table 6.5 indicate that the vast majority of women were able to give a numeric answerto this question; only 7 percent of women gave a non-numeric answer such as "it is up to God," "anynumber," or "does not know." Those who gave numeric responses generally want to have small families.Fifty-six percent of respondents prefer a two-child family, and another 24 percent consider a three-childfamily ideal, while only one percent of respondents said they would choose to have six or more children. Infact, the data show how widespread the two-child norm has become in Bangladesh. Among women with twoor fewer children, two-thirds say they think two children are ideal.Overall, among women giving numeric responses, the mean ideal family size is 2.5 children. Thisrepresents a decline from the level of 4.1 among currently married women in 1975 and 2.9 among currentlymarried women in 1989 (Huq and Cleland, 1990:53). Data from the Maflab area of Bangladesh show thatmean ideal family size has declined from 4.4 children in the treatment area and 4.5 children in the comparisonarea in 1975 to 3.1 and 3.2 children, respectively, in 1990 (ICDDR, B, 1994:3).As expected, the ideal number of children increases with the number of living children (see Table6.5). The mean ideal family size increases from 2.2 among childless women to 3.0 among women with sixor more children. There are several possible explanations for the relationship between ideal and actualnumber of children. First, to the extent that they are able to implement their preferences, women who want87