Determinants of Fertility Among Married women in South Sulawesi, Indonesia

This study aimed to identify fertility differentials among married women by focusing on the contribution of key determinants such as child loss and contraceptive use, while controlling for socio-demographic variables, for instance, age, age at first marriage, educational attainment, employment status, and place of residence. The results of this study are used to suggest policy recommendations to improve family planning in South Sulawesi province.
Secondary data from quantitative research collected by the Indonesia Demographic Health Survey 2007 in the South Sulawesi province included 982 selected married women aged between 15-49 years old, who ever had children born. Interestingly, this study found that higher educated women use less long-term contraception methods than less educated women. Results from linear multiple regressions indicated that when other variables are added together with key independent variables, the explanatory power of the independent variables to predict the number of children ever born increased from roughly 40 percent to 51 percent. In general, child loss was the utmost determinant of fertility compared to other key determinants. Therefore, this study has highlighted one of the most important challenges for reducing infant mortality and raising the prevalence of long-term contraceptive use.