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

Table 6.6 Mean 1deal number of children by background characteristicsMean ideal number of children for ever-married women age 10-49, by age and selected background characteristics,Bangladesh 1993-94BackgroundAge of womancharacteristic 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 TotalResidenceUrbanRuralDivisionBarisalChittagongDhakaKhulnaRajshahl* 22 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.32.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 28 2.8 2.5* 2.2 2.3 24 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.5* 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.8 3.0 2.9 3.0 2.82.3 2.3 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.5* 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.3(2.2) 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.4 2.6 2.7 27 2.4EducationNo education 2 3 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.8 2.8 2 6Primary incomplete (2 1) 2.2 2.4 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.8 2.7 2.4Primary complete (2.3) 2.5 2.3 2.5 2.5 2.6 2.7 (2 8) 2.5Secondary/Higher * 2.1 2.2 2.2 2 3 2.3 2.4 (2.7) 2.2Total 2 2 2.3 2.4 2.4 2.6 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.5Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25 to 49 women; an asterisk indicates that a figure is based on fewer than25 women and has been suppressed.6.4 Fertility PlanningThere are two ways of estimating levels of unwanted fertility from the BDHS data. One is based onresponses to a question as to whether each birth in the three years before the survey was planned (wantedthen), mistimed (wanted, but at a later time), or unwanted (wanted no more children). These data are likelyto result in underestimates of unplanned childbearing, since women may rationalize unplanned births anddeclare them as planned once they are born. Another way of measuring unwanted fertility utilizes the dataon ideal family size to calculate what the total fertility rate would be if all unwanted births were avoided.This measure may also suffer from underestimation to the extent that women are unwilling to report an idealfamily size lower than their actual family size. Data using these two approaches are presented below.Table 6.7 shows the percent distribution of births in the three years before the survey by whether thebirth was wanted then, wanted later, or not wanted. Overall, about one-third of the births in the three-yearperiod can be considered as unplanned; 20 percent as mistimed (wanted later) and 13 percent as unwanted.The proportion of unplanned births increases directly with the birth order of the child. One-third of all fourthand higher order births were unwanted. Thus, a much larger proportion of births to older women are foundto be unwanted--one-half of births among women in their late 30s.89