The Effect of Son Preference on Contraceptive Use and Future Intention of Fertility in EAG states of India

This paper attempts to study the influence of son preference of women on contraceptive use and the risk of having a subsequent birth(s) in Empowered Action Group (EAG) states and India. A modified Arnold (1985) Index was applied to District Level Health Survey (DLHS, 2007-08) data to estimate the extent of son preferences. It was estimated that if son preference was completely eliminated, contraceptive acceptance would increase by approximately 10 percent and sterilization by 18 percent in the India. Increase of contraceptive use in the absence of son preference in high fertility states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh by more than 16 percent point will help to reduce the overall population growth. In all EAG states women who don’t have any son, intend to have another child. However, if women are having at least one son then the future intention to have another child reduces drastically.