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

There is a high degree of agreement between spouses, regardless of the number of children thehusband or wife has. Of course, when the number of children is small, both spouses are likely to want morechildren; as the number of children increases, both are likely to want no more children or to be undecided.When there is disagreement, roughly equal proportions of husbands and wives want more children.Table 9.10 shows the percent distribution of couples by the extent to which they agree on idealnumber of children, according to selected background characteristics. Overall, almost half (45 percent) ofthe couples report the same ideal number of children. Among 20 percent of the couples, the husband wantsmore children than the wife, and among 22 percent of the couples, the wife wants more children than thehusband. This shows that there is a fair degree of agreement between husbands and wives on ideal numberof children. The data also show that husbands are not any more or less pronatalist than their wives.Differentials according to background characteristics are not large, except that in Chittagong Division, oneor both of the spouses is more likely to give a non-numeric answer to the question on ideal family size. Thesame is true among couples in which both have some education.Table 9.10 Spouses' agreement on ideal number of childrenPercent distribution of couples by extent of agreement on ideal number of children, according toselected background characteristics, Bangladesh 1993-94Ideal Husband Wifenumber wants wantssame for more more Non- NumberBackground husband than than numeric ofcharacteristic and wife wife husband response Total couplesAge differenceWife older (45.8) (16.8) (23.0) (14.4) 100.0 4404 44.7 20.2 23.5 11.6 100.0 4735-9 48.1 17.9 22.0 12.1 100.0 133810-14 43.9 20.0 21.7 14.4 100.0 93815+ 39.6 23.8 18.8 17.7 100.0 534ResidenceUrban 55.2 15.9 20.5 8.4 100,0 384Rural 43.7 20.2 21.8 14.3 100.0 2943DivisionBansal 45.1 22.2 22.9 9.8 100.0 209Chittagong 30.2 18.9 24,2 26.7 100.0 757Dhaka 46.1 19,5 23.2 11.2 i00.0 1042Khulna 57.3 15.4 19.2 8.0 100,0 447Rajshahi 50.3 22.4 18.5 8.9 100.0 872Couple's educationBoth none 54.6 17.1 21.2 7.1 100.0 1078Wife some/husband none 42.8 24.6 19,0 13.6 100.0 292Husband some/wife none 41.8 19.4 22.3 16.5 100.0 845Both some 38.7 21.3 22.3 17.8 1O0.0 1113Total 45.0 19.7 21.6 13.6 100.0 3327Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25 to 49 cases.128