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

Ever-use rates vary with the age of women. Everuse is lowest among the youngest women. However,the fact that one-third of currently married women age 10-14 have used a contraceptive method at least onceand one-quarter have used a modem method indicates that women in Bangladesh are now willing to trymethods early in their reproductive lives. The level of ever use rises to a high of 77 percent for those age 35-39, then declines, reaching 49 percent among those who are age 45-49. Ever use of any modem methodfollows a similar pattern by age of women.There has been a steady increase in the level of ever use of family planning over the past 15-20 yearsin Bangladesh. In 1975, only 14 percent of ever-married women of reproductive age had ever used a familyplanning method, compared to 63 percent in 1993-94 (Table 4.5). For use of any modem method, theincrease has been even steeper. Although ever use of all methods has increased over time, ever use of the pillhas increased the most rapidly. Ever use of both female and male sterilization, as well as of periodicabstinence and withdrawal, appears to have either reached a plateau or declined in recent years.Table 4.5 Trends in ever use of family planning methodsPercentage of ever-married women age 10-49 who have ever used specific family planning methods,selected sources, Bangladesh, 1975-19941975 1983 1985 1989 1989 1991 1993-94Method BFS CPS CPS CP8 BFS 1 CPS BDHSAny method 13,6 33.4 32.5 44.2 45.0 59.0 63.1Any modern method U 23.8 25.9 37.5 U 49.2 56.4Pill 5.0 14.1 14.3 23.3 22.0 34.1 42.0IUD 0.9 2.2 2.7 4.6 4.0 6.2 7.3Injection U 1.2 1.3 2.8 2.0 6.6 I 1.0Vaginal methods 0.5 2.2 1.6 2.4 1.0 2.9 UCondom 4.8 7.1 5.7 9.3 6.0 13.4 13.9Female sterilization 0.3 5.8 7.4 8.7 9.0 8.0 7.9Male sterilization 0.4 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.0 1.4 1.4Any traditional method U 17.3 11.9 15.3 U 29.6 24.0Periodic abstinence 4.5 11.0 7.8 9.7 13.0 21.5 •6.5Withdrawal 2.6 5.3 2.9 3.6 7.0 ll.l 10.1Number of women 6515 8523 8541 10293 11907 10573 9640U = Unknown (no information)1Published data were presented in whole numbers; the decimal was added to balance the table.Source: 1975 BFS (MHPC, 1978:A275); 1983 CPS (Mitra and Kamal, 1985:117, 122); 1985 CPS (Mitra,1987:108, 112); 1989 CPS (Mitra et al., 1990:88, 92); 1989 BFS (Huq and Cleland, 1990:61); 1991 CPS(Mitra et al., 1993:52)4.3 Current Use of ContraceptionCurrent use of contraception is defined as the proportion of women who reported they were using afamily planning method at the time of interview. In the BDHS, only women who were married at the timeof the survey were asked questions about current use of family planning. Table 4.6 shows the percentdistribution of currently married women by current contraceptive use status, according to age group.The findings show that 45 percent of married women age 10-49 are currently using contraception.Many more women are using modem methods (36 percent) than traditional methods (8 percent). Thus,modem methods account for 80 percent of overall use.43