Socio-economic and demographic factors of infertility in Sri Lanka

The incidence of infertility in a population has important demographic and health implications as it is closely linked with country’s overall fertility and psychological wellbeing of couples. Though in Sri Lanka, many couples expect a child soon after marriage, a considerable proportion of them are unable to conceive even after one year of regular sexual intercourse, without contraception. Previous research has focused on medical aspects and rarely examined socio-demographic factors related to infertility. Using data from 150 infertile couples from infertility clinics, we explore the demographic and socioeconomic factors of infertility. The findings reveal that primary infertility among couples is higher than the secondary infertility. It is also found that couple’s demographic factors such as age of woman, age at marriage, frequency of sexual intercourse within the fertile period and women’s irregular menstruation significantly influence on infertility. In addition, couple’s socio economic factors such as education, occupation, number of working hours per day, distance to work place and level of income affect infertility in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, health related factors such as reproductive system related problems, usage of long term drugs, body mass index, and mental illnesses have directly affected on the infertility.