Table of ContentsChapters
Highlights
Published by the INFO Project, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA Volume XXXI, Number 2, |
Desired Family SizeIn the DHS (but not the RHS) women with children7 are asked, “If you could return to the time when you did not have any children and could choose the number of children you have in your whole life, how many would that be?” Women without children7 are asked, “If you could choose exactly the number of children to have in your whole life, how many would that be?” Responses to these questions provide data about desired family size. Changes in desired family size can indicate how social norms about fertility are changing (9, 135). Desired number of children. Among 50 developing countries surveyed since 1990, married women say they want an average of 4.7 children (see Table 7). This average conceals a large difference between sub-Saharan Africa and other regions. Outside sub-Saharan Africa desired family size averages 3.3 children. In contrast, among the 28 sub-Saharan African countries surveyed, desired family size averages 5.7 children. In all sub-Saharan countries with data except South Africa, women’s desired number of children exceeds 4, reaching as many as 8.5 in Chad and Niger. Elsewhere, women want more than four children only in Jordan, Mauritania, Pakistan, and Yemen. In no surveyed country do married women report their desired family size at or below replacement-level fertility (for a definition see chapter 1). Trends. On average, desired family size fell about 0.2 children among married women in 32 developing countries with more than one survey since 1990 (see Table 7). Declines were 0.5 children or more in six sub-Saharan African countries and in Yemen. The only substantial increase between surveys was in Rwanda; desired family size rose from 4.4 children in 1992 to 5.0 in 2000. Changes in desired family size in the 1990s reflect a continued long-term trend of wanting smaller families. In the 1980s surveys in many countries reported substantial declines in women’s family size preferences compared with data from the World Fertility Survey in the 1970s (97, 136). Still, in many countries, desired family size—and, concurrently, fertility rates—remain substantially above the rates in developed countries. Wanted and unwanted fertility. Despite increases in contraceptive use, many women still do not achieve their fertility goals. Among 50 developing countries surveyed since 1990, married women have an average of nearly one child more than they want (see Table 7, last column). A birth is considered wanted if the number of living children at the time of conception is less than the desired number of children reported by a respondent. Levels of unwanted fertility depend on the proportion of women who want no more children and how many of them succeed in preventing another birth (19). These data are used to calculate the “wanted fertility rate”—the fertility rate in a country if there were no unwanted births—and also the “unwanted fertility rate.” The wanted fertility rate is calculated the same way as the total fertility rate (TFR) (see chapter 1 for calculation of the TFR) but does not count unwanted births. The unwanted fertility rate is the difference between the TFR and the wanted fertility rate. Why are married women having more children than they desire? Unwanted fertility tends first to rise and then to fall as countries move through the demographic transition (19). During early stages of the transition, when fertility is high, most women want many children and thus little unwanted fertility exists. In Niger, for example, unwanted fertility rates are among the lowest of all developing countries, at 0.2, while the TFR is the highest found in the surveys, at 7.2, and only 5% of married women use contraception. Unwanted fertility levels tend to be particularly large in the middle stages of the transition to lower fertility. As more women want to have smaller families, levels of unwanted fertility rise. This trend occurs because desired family size falls faster than contraceptive use increases. In Haiti, for instance, women have about two more children than they say they want, the TFR is 4.7, and 28% of married women use contraception. Then, in the later stages of the transition, as more and more women use contraception, unwanted fertility falls along with fertility itself. In Indonesia, for example, unwanted fertility averages 0.4 children per woman, the TFR is 2.8, and 57% of married women use contraception.
|
 |
||
 |
Information & Knowledge for Optimal Health (INFO) Project 111 Market Place Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202 Phone: 410-659-6300 Fax: 410-659-6266 Security & Privacy Policy Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government. |
 |