Fertility intentions over time

It is often argued that in a developing country scenario couples generally cannot plan their family size well in advance with a calculation of net lifetime return of schooling. Therefore question arises, whether quantity-quality trade-off is actually occurs within the fertility decision making process or not. Rural and illiterate couples are more disadvantageous situation and it is therefore imperative to know their fertility intention or what exactly they thought of having or not having a child. The results of primary survey data show that most of the couple doesn't plan their fertility. Findings suggests that only schooling aspiration for children generally do not influence the couples to stop child bearing, so even if child schooling decision is influencing the fertility decision the proportion of couple doing so is small. Thus, quantity affects the quality, but desire to improve quality is not reducing quantity, though younger couple is showing some hope.

This study aims to examine linkages between development indicators such as demographic factors, socio-economic factors and other factors with preferred family size and family planning practices and these factor’s entire linkages with replacement level of fertility in Nepal.

Secondary analysis of 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey data will be performed to examine the relationship between socio-economic, demographic and other factors with preferences and use of a modern method of contraception among currently married, nonpregnant women between the ages of 15 and 49.

The relationship will further be analyzed to assess whether the fertility decline in Nepal is due to use of modern contraception and fertility preferences and based on this analysis, the conclusion will be drawn whether Nepal is in the path of replacement fertility. Frequencies will be examined; bivariate and multivariate analysis will be undertaken using logistic regression analysis taking survey weight into account. The software STATA12 will be used for data analysis. This kind of relationship between socio-economic, demographic factors with family and their entire relationship with fertility preference, contraceptive practices and actual fertility is necessary to be searched for the family planning policy implications in Nepal.

This study attempted to examine the timing and intention of fertility among the women in India. To understand the changes in the childbearing behaviour over the period of time a cohort analysis is performed. Fertility timing is captured through initial birth interval among different birth cohort of women. It is also attempted to identify the determinants of intention for a large family. The third round of nationally representative survey ‘District Level Health Survey (DLHS-3)-2007-08’ has been used for the analysis which provides fertility information of women by birth cohort since 1958 till 1993. Results indicate that the timing to have child vary between different birth cohort of women. Women’s intention to have a child after having two children is decreasing over the period. The effect of education and household economic status is still significant predictor of fertility intention, but the magnitude of the effect has changed over the period.

Pakistan’s high rate of abortion estimated at 29 per 1,000 women aged 15-49 in 2002 (Sathar et al. 2007) may be explained by the low CPR and high unmet need for family planning (30 percent and 25 percent, PDHS 2006-2007). Using national level qualitative and quantitative data we show that in fact a significant proportion of pregnancies and abortions occur due to contraceptive discontinuation. In-depth interviews with 44 women who had experienced abortion reveal that half of them were contraceptive users at the time of pregnancy. Inconsistent and ineffective contraceptive use, typically involving condoms and explained by a lack of motivation on the part of husbands and ambivalence of wives, lead to unwanted pregnancy. Under-studied in countries with low CPR, contraceptive failure merits research in Pakistan as this can help family planning providers and policy makers support more effective contraceptive use to avoid unwanted fertility and abortions and their consequences.

The main purposes of this study are to describe college students' recognition and attitudes toward marriage and childbearing and to explore the factors impacting on their recognition and attitudes toward marriage and childbearing in South Korea.. 440 questionnaires were collected from college students in five colleges and universities in South Korea. The survey was carried out from October 12 to October 22, 2011. Findings of this study are as follows: First, it turns out that rearing place, marital values, and values for children increase odds ratio of the pro-marital values in the logistic regression analysis. Second, sex, age, and values for marriage have statistically significant relationships with the prospective age at first marriage among college students. Third, rearing place, values for marriage, and values for children, increase odds ratio of the willingness of childbearing in the future. Fourth, sex, religion, attitudes against divorce, and values for children have statistically significant impacts on the number of the wanted children in the future. Finally, we argue that population education program need to be launched in the colleges in order to increase marital willingness and childbearing willingness of the college students which, in turn, will help to alleviate the lowest low fertility in the South Korea.

With increasing incidences of infertility, the surrogate mothers are considered as an alternative which enables childless couples to have a child of their own with the help of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs). With a quasi-legal status along with the wide supply of cheap labour working as surrogate women, India has become the preferred place for surrogacy. Based on a field study in Kolkata city in 2012, the participation and perception of the various actors of this ‘clandestine’ arrangement has been captured, which include nursing homes, doctors, brokers, surrogate women and biological parents. It has been found that there is high demand for one’s own blood related child and couples keep persevering till they get success. This has led to the increase in the desire for surrogacy arrangement and almost all surrogate women interviewed admitted that they accepted this ‘work’ only for monetary gains. The surrogacy, as it is practised now in India as an Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) provides scope for the rich couples and private hospitals to ‘exploit’ poor women. This raises many alarming questions on human rights, reproductive health and professional ethics.

One of the emerging demographic phenomenon in urban India – the single child families- is addressed here. As compared to all other cities in India, the prevalence of single child families is quite substantial in Kolkata city (13 percent). To examine this phenomenon, 330 single child mothers have been interviewed in 2012 in Kolkata city. Around forty-two percent of the respondents think that due to low family income and high cost of living, they have opted for single child. Proper care of the child and health problems are the second most important reason cited by respondents. Among the entire respondents, 83 percent believe that their decision to have single child was right and have no regrets. However, 13 percent now feel it would have been better if they had one more child. Nine out of ten respondents stated that single child families have no negative consequences on parents or the child. These urban single child couples are emerging as ‘harbingers’ of low fertility behaviour in India.

Trussell et al.’s provocative analysis of women’s classifications of contraceptive failures from the 1995 NSFG found inconsistent retrospective reporting of intentions and feelings. Looking to the 2006-2010 NSFG, we find that such incongruent reporting of happiness about pregnancies resulting from contraceptive failure is more prevalent among Latina women. Is this a function of ambivalence about avoiding pregnancy, retrospective bias, or a meaningful distinction between happiness and intention?
Using prospective data from the Border Contraceptive Access Study, we shed new light on Trussell et al.’s apparent paradox. We find that incongruent happiness and intention, rather than constituting ambivalence, reflect distinct concepts for Latinas. Wanting no more pregnancies, and using contraception to implement such intentions is not incompatible with positive feelings about pregnancy, and such happiness may reflect cultural influence, and the impact of pregnancy on relationship wellbeing. Retrospectively reported intentions show considerable bias, but the majority of retrospective happiness is consistent with prospective feelings, suggesting that happiness is not merely an artifact of retrospective reporting. Findings have implications for the meaning and measurement of unintended pregnancy in national surveys like NSFG and PRAMS.

Much has been said the ‘’exceptionally’’ high Palestinian fertility. Even though the fertility transition is well under way it is clear that the classical theory of demographic transition cannot explain the continued strong demand for children in the modern yet conflicting context of Gaza or the differences with the West Bank. Several hypotheses have indeed been brought up to explain the factors surrounding the ever-high Palestinian fertility. This paper thus aims to better understand the mechanisms of fertility change in both regions by estimating trends in annual marital conception probabilities with a discrete-time logistic regression model. We argue that the economic downturn has a bigger impact on the conception probabilities than the state of belligerence and the increase in the age at marriage does not affect overall fertility because birth intervals decrease among older age groups.

Much has been said the ''exceptionally'' high Palestinian fertility. Even though the fertility transition is well under way it is clear that the classical theory of demographic transition cannot explain the continued strong demand for children in the modern yet conflicting context of Gaza or the differences with the West Bank. Several hypotheses have been brought up to explain the factors surrounding the ever-high Palestinian fertility. This paper thus aims to better understand the mechanisms of fertility change in this region. The factors behind their fertility dynamics are analyzed with a multilevel hierarchical linear model (HLM) to disentangle the individual and group level effects that come into play. We argue that the minority group status, the permanent state of belligerence, and its consequences on a contextual level play a role in explaining the high fertility. The fertility dynamics should resemble to that of the Palestinians living in Israel.