CONTENTS
HIGHLIGHTS
October, 1998 Series J, Number 46 |
In some countries with recent DHS, many men report that they want no more children. West African men are far more likely to want another child than are men in other regions. Nevertheless, in Ghana 32% of men do not want more children, and in Burkina Faso, 27%. The percentages of men who want no more children are highest in Brazil, at 76%; Egypt, at 61%; and Morocco, at 57% (see Table 3). In most surveyed countries differences between men's and women's desires for more children are small (18, 30, 33, 76) (see Table 3). Men are somewhat more likely to want another child than women are. In three of the countries surveyed, however—Brazil, Burkina Faso, and Morocco—fewer men than women want another child. Analyzing DHS data for 18 countries, Akinrinola Bankole and Susheela Singh found that most couples agree on whether or not they want more children. Nevertheless, 10% to 26% of husbands and wives do not agree. In these couples, usually the husband wants another child and the wife does not. Also, when husbands and wives both want another child, often the husband wants to have it sooner than his wife does (18). |