Demand for Long-acting and Permanent Contraceptive Methods among Kurdish Women in Mahabad, Iran

The aim of this paper is to study the demand for long-acting and permanent contraceptive methods (LAPCMs), and its determinants among Kurdish women in Mahabad city, Iran. Data are taken from Mahabad Fertility Survey (MFS) conducted on a sample of over 700 households in April 2012. The results show that the demand for LAPCMs was 71.3 percent at the time of survey, although only 27.7 percent of women used these methods. Thus, the number of unintended pregnancies is likely to increase in the future if this gap does not reduce. The multivariate analysis shows significant impacts on the dependent variable of the number of children ever born, the perceived contraceptive costs, and childbearing intentions. Moreover, women at the end of reproductive ages and those with higher education are more likely to desire LAPCMs. The paper concludes that despite a growing use of contraceptive methods in recent decades, the need to develop reproductive health services, and promote the quality of family planning services remains an inevitable necessity.