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

Figure 4.3Current Use of Contraception among Currently MarriedWomen 10-49 by Selected Background CharacteristicsRESIDENCEUrbanRural. . . . . . . [ 43DIVISIONBarisalChittagong ~ 2-9Dhaka_ L--Khulna-- ~------------~-~ -- ~ ~ - - - 55Ra shahi ~ ~ = ~ ~ ~ 55EDUCATIONNo EducationPrim. Incomp. [~Prim. Comp. L~Secondary+010 20 ao 40 50Percent60BDHS 1993-94The number of living children, or parity, is an indicator of actual reproductive behavior. Therelationship between parity and contraceptive use provides an indication of the effect of actual reproductivebehavior on use and/or the opposite--the effect of contraceptive use on the number of children. As shownin Table 4.8, current use demonstrates a curvilinear relationship with the number of living children. Theproportion using any contraceptive method rises from a low of 14 percent of currently married women withno children to 58 percent for those with three children and then declines to 52 percent of women with fouror more children. This decline may be due in part to women's actual or perceived infecundity at higherparities.Two issues emerge from this analysis of family planning use. First, contraceptive use among marriedwomen under age 25 and among those with less than two children is no longer negligible. Although the ratesfor these groups are still low relative to other groups, they are high enough to indicate that young couples arewilling to use family planning methods early in marriage.The second issue is the continuing low level of contraceptive use in Chittagong Division. This isexamined in more detail in Table 4.9 which shows trends in the use of contraception since 1983 by division.It is clear that even ill 1983, Chittagong Division lagged well behind the other three divisions in levels of use.Thus, although prevalence rates in Chittagong Division increased between 1983 and 1993-94 at roughly thesame rate as in the other divisions (more than doubling), the initial discrepancy remains. This disparityrequires further study to assist in designing program interventions to bring Chittagong Division in line withthe rest of the country.48