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FERTILITY PREFERENCES


  • Respondents in the 1998 NDHS were asked whether they wanted to have another child and, if so, how soon.  Table FP1 summarizes the information on women’s reproductive preferences. Half (51 percent) of currently married women in the Philippines say they want no more children, and an additional 10 percent have been sterilized (Figure FP1.  Thirty-two percent of women want to have a child at some time in the future; however, the majority of these women (19 percent of all currently married women) say they would like to wait two or more years before having their next birth.  Only 12 percent of women say they want to have a child soon and 4 percent are undecided about whether they want to have another child.  Thus, the vast majority of married women (81 percent) want either to space their next birth or to limit childbearing altogether.

Table FP1. Fertility Preferences by Age
 
Percent distribution of currently married women age 15-49 by desire for more children, according to age, Philippines 1998

Desire for children

Age of woman

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

Total

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have another soon 1

20.2

13.0

12.2

14.5

11.1

10.7

7.6

12.0

Have another later 2

52.9

47.4

33.0

17.2

6.6

3.0

0.9

18.7

Have another, undecided when

1.5

0.4

1.7

1.2

1.1

1.0

0.4

1.1

Undecided

7.2

7.1

5.4

4.8

4.2

2.5

0.7

4.3

Want no more

17.8

31.4

44.2

52.7

61.0

58.8

64.2

51.4

Sterilized

0.0

0.2

3.3

8.8

14.9

20.3

18.1

10.4

Declared infecund

0.2

0.5

0.2

0.7

1.0

3.4

7.6

1.8

Missing

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.4

0.5

0.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Number of women

244

967

1585

1730

1602

1243

965

8336

1 Want next birth within 2 years

2 Want to delay next birth for 2 or more years 

http://192.168.1.4/hhld/fpfig01.gif

 

Source: NSO and MI, 1998 NDHS


  • The desire to delay childbearing is largely concentrated among women under age 30.  As expected, the proportion wanting no more children increases rapidly with age, with almost one-third of married women age 20-24 saying that they do not want another birth.  There has been little change in overall fertility preferences since 1993, with the proportion of women who either want no more children or are sterilized falling from 63 to 62 percent (NSO and MI, 1994:73).

 

 

 

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