Determinants of Female Sterilization in Brazil, 2001–2006

This study aims to investigate the determinants of female sterilization in Brazil. Our analysis is innovative because it adds the time of exposure to the risk of sterilization into survival models. We control the models by postpartum duration, age at delivery, parity at delivery, place of delivery, region of residence, color/race, years of schooling, frequency of involvement in religious activities, and religion at the time of interview. We use data from the 2006 Brazilian National Survey on Demography and Health of Women and Children (PNDS). The strongest probability that sterilization might occur was observed among women who gave birth at private hospitals and received support from a health insurance company, between zero and two months after childbirth. These results are an indication of a frustrated demand for female sterilization at public hospitals. Unlike previous studies, our findings suggest color/race and years of schooling do not predict the risk of sterilization.