Characteristics of Households - Childinfo.org

Unmet NeedUnmet need for contraception refers to fecund women whoare not using any method of contraception, but who wishto postpone the next birth (spacing) or who wish to stopchildbearing altogether (limiting). Unmet need is identifiedin MICS by using a set of questions eliciting currentbehaviours and preferences pertaining to contraceptiveuse, fecundity, and fertility preferences. Table RH.5 showsthe results of the survey on contraception, unmet need,and the demand for contraception satisfied.Unmet need for spacing is defined as the percentage ofwomen who are not using a method of contraception AND• are not pregnant and not postpartum amenorrheic 14and are fecund 15 and say they want to wait two or moreyears for their next birth OR• are not pregnant and not postpartum amenorrheicand are fecund and unsure whether they want anotherchild OR• are pregnant and say that pregnancy was mistimed:would have wanted to wait OR• are postpartum amenorrheic and say that the birthwas mistimed: would have wanted to wait.Unmet need for limiting is defined as the percentage ofwomen who are not using a method of contraception AND• are not pregnant and not postpartum amenorrheic andare fecund and say they do not want any more childrenOR• are pregnant and say they didn't want to have a childOR• are postpartum amenorrheic and say that they didn'twant the birthTotal unmet need for contraception is simply the sum ofunmet need for spacing and unmet need for limiting. TableRH.5 shows that 7 percent of women in Serbia have a totalunmet need for contraception. The total unmet need ishigher among younger women aged 20–24 (12 percent)and 25–29 year olds (13 percent).Met need for limiting includes women who are using acontraceptive method and who want no more children, areusing male or female sterilization or declare themselvesas infecund. Met need for spacing includes women whoare using a contraceptive method and who want to haveanother child or are undecided whether to have anotherchild. The met need for spacing added to the met need forlimiting gives the total met need for contraception. Some18 percent of all women have a met need for spacing and43 percent have a met need for limiting.Unmet need for spacing is recorded among 3 percent ofwomen but it is higher among women aged 20–24 yearsold (11 percent) and 25–29 years old (8 percent). Onein 25 women or 4 percent of women have unmet needfor limiting, with no major differences among differentbackground characteristics.Using information on contraception and unmet need,the percentage of satisfied demand for contraception canalso be estimated from the MICS data. The percentage ofsatisfied demand is defined as the proportion of womencurrently married or in a marital union who are currentlyusing contraception, of the total demand for contraception.The total demand for contraception includes women whocurrently have an unmet need (for spacing or limiting),plus those who are currently using contraception. In total,90 percent of women in Serbia have their demand forcontraception satisfied, with lower values for women aged20–24 years old (84 percent) and 25–29 years old (82 percent).14A women is postpartum amenorrheic if she had a birth in the last two years and is not currently pregnant and her menstrual period has not returned since thebirth of the last child.15A women is considered infecund if she is neither pregnant nor postpartum amenorrheic, and(1a) she has not had menstruation for at least six months, or (1b) never menstruated, or (1c) her last menstruation occurred before her last birth, or (1d) is inmenopause/has had hysterectomy OR(2) she declares that she has had a hysterectomy, or that she has never menstruated or that she is menopausal, or that she has been trying to get pregnantfor 2 or more years without result in response to questions on why she thinks she is not physically able to get pregnant at the time of the survey OR(3) she declares she cannot get pregnant when asked about her desire for future births OR(4) she has not had a birth in the preceding 5 years, is currently not using contraception and is currently married and was continuously married during the last5 years preceding the survey.122MULTIPLE INDICATOR CLUSTER SURVEY 2010