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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2010

LATIFAT IBISOMI ,
STEPHEN GYIMAH ,
KANYIVA MUINDI  and
JONES ADJEI
LATIFAT IBISOMI
Affiliation:
Africa-Re Center, Nairobi, Kenya
STEPHEN GYIMAH
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Queens University, Canada
KANYIVA MUINDI
Affiliation:
African Population and Health Research Center, Kenya
JONES ADJEI
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Queens University, Canada
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Summary

Although 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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 233 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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