Unmet contraceptive need in Bangladesh: evidence from the 1993/94 and 1996/97 Demographic and Health Surveys

Abstract

Unmet contraceptive need is defined as the percentage of currently married women in their reproductive ages who do not want additional children and yet do not practice contraception. This analysis examined the extent of unmet need in Bangladesh and differentials in unmet need by selected characteristics of the respondents. Data were obtained from the 1993-94 and 1996-97 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS), which employed nationally representative, two-stage samples of 8842 (7510 rural ad 1332 urban) and 8306 (6995 rural and 1311 urban) currently married women of reproductive age. In this analysis, the dependent variable "unmet need" includes pregnant women whose pregnancy was mistimed, amenorrheic women whose last birth was mistimed, and women who were neither pregnant nor amenorrheic and who were not using any method of family planning. In addition, several independent variables were also considered in the analysis. According to the BDHS data, 1 out of every 6 women in Bangladesh has an unmet need--8% each for spacing and limiting the birth of children. The extent of unmet need was found to be higher in rural than in urban areas, and was higher in Sylhet and Chittagong divisions compared to the country's other divisions. The main predictors of unmet need were found to be ever use of family planning, husband-wife communication on family planning matters, number of living children, and place of residence. Furthermore, unmet need was slightly lower among women with some secondary schooling than among those with little or no education