IDEAL VERSUS ACTUAL: THE CONTRADICTION IN NUMBER OF CHILDREN BORN TO NIGERIAN WOMEN

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
LATIFAT IBISOMI ◽  
STEPHEN GYIMAH ◽  
KANYIVA MUINDI ◽  
JONES ADJEI

SummaryAlthough desired family size is often different from actual family size, the dynamics of this difference are not well understood. This paper examines the patterns and determinants of the difference between desired and actual number of children (unmet fertility desires) among women aged 15–49 years using pooled data from the 1990, 1999 and 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHSs). The results show that more than two-thirds of the sample have unmet fertility desires (18.1% have more while 52.4% have fewer than desired). It was found that early and late childbearing increased the odds of unmet fertility desires. Also, women with low levels of education, from poor households, rural residents as well as those who had experienced child death were at a higher risk of unmet fertility desires in the multivariate context. The study highlights the policy and programme implications of the findings.

Demography ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 1975-2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Nitsche ◽  
Sarah R. Hayford

AbstractIn the United States, underachieving fertility desires is more common among women with higher levels of education and those who delay first marriage beyond their mid-20s. However, the relationship between these patterns, and particularly the degree to which marriage postponement explains lower fertility among the highly educated, is not well understood. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort to analyze differences in parenthood and achieved parity for men and women, focusing on the role of marriage timing in achieving fertility goals over the life course. We expand on previous research by distinguishing between entry into parenthood and average parity among parents as pathways to underachieving, by considering variation in the impact of marriage timing by education and by stage of the life course, and by comparing results for men and women. We find that women with a bachelor’s degree who desired three or more children are less likely to become mothers relative to women with the same desired family size who did not attend college. Conditional on becoming mothers, however, women with at least a bachelor’s degree do not have lower completed family size. No comparable fatherhood difference by desired family size is present. Postponing marriage beyond age 30 is associated with lower proportions of parenthood but not with lower parity among parents. Age patterns are similar for women and men, pointing at social rather than biological factors driving the underachievement of fertility goals.


2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALOK BHARGAVA

Summary.This paper models the proximate determinants of children born to over 13,000 Ethiopian women and of the women’s stated preferences for additional births using the data from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey 2000. Empirical models for the number of children born to women were estimated using Poisson and ordinal regressions. The results show the importance of variables such as maternal education for smaller family size, and that variables reflecting desired family size are strong predictors of the numbers of children born to women. Secondly, binary logistic models for dichotomous variables for women not wanting more children and if getting pregnant would be a ‘big problem’ showed non-linear effects of the surviving and ‘ideal’ number of children. Moreover, the results indicated a desire on the part of women to limit family size, especially as the number of surviving children increased. Probit models were estimated to address potential endogeneity of certain variables. Overall, the results indicated that counselling couples about small family size and increasing the utilization of health care services can lower fertility in Ethiopia.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habitu Liyew Molla ◽  
Essey Kebede Muluneh

Abstract Background: Desired family size, the number of children wanted in one’s lifetime, is one of the major factors influencing the population dynamics. Knowledge of factors influencing the desired family size is crucial in regulating the population growth. This study assesses the desired family size and its determinants among Ethiopian women. Methods: The study was based on the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data. A total of 13,941 women with complete information were considered in the study. Count regression models, a family of generalized linear models, were used to identify determinant factors for the desired number of children among women in Ethiopia. Results: Results showed that the average number of children per women was 4.5. The highest average was recorded in Somali region (10.58) and the lowest in Addis Ababa city administration (3.56). The random intercept negative binomial regression model was found to be the most appropriate model for the data. Women’s age, household head, contraception using, wealth index, women’s education, religion, marital status, husband’s work, family size and age at first marriage were significantly associated with the desired number of children by women at reproductive age. The study also showed that there was significant regional variation in desired number of children among Ethiopian women. Conclusions: Variables such as women’s age and family size were positively associated with the desired number of children by women at reproductive age while age at first marriage, contraception using, wealth index and women’s education were negatively associated with the desired number of children by women. Women who attained higher level of education preferred small family size compared to women with no formal education. Desire for children was high among mothers from rural areas, women in the poorest economic level and woman having no work. Keywords: Desired number of children, statistical weight, EDHS, Count regression models, multilevel analysis.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieudonné Ndaruhuye Muhoza ◽  
Annelet Broekhuis ◽  
Pieter Hooimeijer

This contribution studies the variation in desired family size and excess fertility in four East African countries by analyzing the combined impact of wealth, education, religious affiliation, and place of residence. The findings show an enormous heterogeneity in Kenya. Wealthy and higher educated people have fertility desires close to replacement level, regardless of religion, while poor, uneducated people, particularly those in Muslim communities, have virtually uncontrolled fertility. Rwanda is at the other extreme: poor, uneducated people have the same desired fertility as their wealthy, educated compatriots, regardless of their religion—a case of “poverty Malthusianism.”. The potential for family planning is high in both countries as more than 50% of the women having 5 children or more would have preferred to stop at 4 or less. Tanzania and Uganda have an intermediate position in desired family size and a lower potential for family planning. Generally, the main factor that sustains higher fertility is poverty exacerbated by religious norms among the poor only.


Author(s):  
Julie Vinck ◽  
Wim Van Lancker

Belgium has been plagued by comparatively high levels of child poverty, and by a creeping, yet significant, increase that started in the good years before the crisis. This is related to the relatively high share of jobless households, the extremely high and increasing poverty risk of children growing up in these households, and benefits that are inadequate to shield jobless families with children from poverty. Although the impact of the Great Recession was limited in Belgium, the crisis seems to have had an impact on child poverty, by increasing the number of children living in work-poor households. Although the Belgian welfare state had an important cushioning impact, its poverty-reducing capacity was less strong than it used to be. The most important lesson from the crisis is that in order to make further headway in reducing child poverty, not only activation but also social protection should be improved.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Li

AbstractThis paper introduces durables into a dynamic general equilibrium overlapping generation model with idiosyncratic income shocks and endogenous borrowing constraints, which depend on durables. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the welfare effects of consumption tax reforms in a richer model that captures the difference between nondurable and durable consumption. When durables are considered, the standard results that a shift to consumption taxes is welfare improving are overturned. The mechanism of this opposing result is that consumption tax makes durable consumption more expensive without relaxing the borrowing constraint. The inability of borrowing to insure against income risk deviates the economy further away from market completeness and particularly hurts young and poor households. As a result, welfare decreases, coupled with negative redistribution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Giacobone ◽  
Maria Victoria Tiscornia ◽  
Leila Guarnieri ◽  
Luciana Castronuovo ◽  
Sally Mackay ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Food cost and affordability is one of the main barriers to improve the nutritional quality of diets of the population. However, in Argentina, where over 60% of adults and 40% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, little is known about the difference in cost and affordability of healthier diets compared to ordinary, less healthy ones. Methods We implemented the “optimal approach” proposed by the International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS). We modelled the current diet and two types of healthy diets, one equal in energy with the current diet and one 6.3% lower in energy by linear programming. Cost estimations were performed by collecting food product prices and running a Monte Carlo simulation (10,000 iterations) to obtain a range of costs for each model diet. Affordability was measured as the percentage contribution of diet cost vs. average household income in average, poor and extremely poor households and by income deciles. Results On average, households must spend 32% more money on food to ensure equal energy intake from a healthy diet than from a current model diet. When the energy intake target was reduced by 6.3%, the difference in cost was 22%. There are no reasonably likely situations in which any of these healthy diets could cost less or the same than the current unhealthier one. Over 50% of households would be unable to afford the modelled healthy diets, while 40% could not afford the current diet. Conclusions Differential cost and affordability of healthy vs. unhealthy diets are germane to the design of effective public policies to reduce obesity and NCDs in Argentina. It is necessary to implement urgent measures to transform the obesogenic environment, making healthier products more affordable, available and desirable, and discouraging consumption of nutrient-poor, energy-rich foods.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Bolten ◽  
Richard Marcantonio

Abstract Post-war Sierra Leone has experienced a population explosion that has raised questions among rural farmers about the relationship between family size and poverty. Agricultural decline and the high cost of schooling are not prompting parents to articulate a desire for smaller families; rather, they highlight that the uncertainty around articulating the “right” number of children is unresolvable because the ability to send children to school is predicated on increasing agricultural outputs that decline precisely because population pressure has reduced soil fertility. Bolten and Marcantonio conclude that this renders family size the heart of a paradox, where there is no optimal number of children.


1994 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kabir ◽  
Ruhul Amin ◽  
Ashraf Uddin Ahmed ◽  
Jamir Chowdhury

SummaryFactors affecting desired family size in rural Bangladesh are examined using data from contraceptive prevalence surveys conducted between 1983 and 1991. The analysis suggests that mothers having two sons and one daughter are more inclined to perceive their family as complete than those having three sons and no daughter. Logistic regression analysis indicates that important determinants of desire for more children are age of woman, current contraceptive use status, work status, and family planning worker's visit. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.


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