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Contraceptive use and unmet need for family planning among women with at least one child in rural Uttar Pradesh: the role of wealth and gender composition of children

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Abstract

Aim

Family planning has long been recognised as an effective public health intervention to reduce fertility and unwanted births. This study examines the effect of household wealth and gender composition of children on contraceptive use and unmet need for family planning.

Subject and methods

Our study is based on primary data collected from 460 respondents in the rural areas of the Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh between September 2016 and February 2017. The representative sample comprised 460 currently married women who had at least one living child below 10 years of age. Current use of contraception and an unmet need for family planning were the outcomes variables. Descriptive statistics, a concentration curve and index for inequality, and multivariate techniques were used to examine the association between predictor and outcome variables.

Results

Our study showed low prevalence and substantial socio-economic differentials in contraceptive use. An unmet need for family planning was concentrated among the poor and the use of contraception was found to be more frequent among affluent women. Household wealth and gender composition of children were significantly associated with contraceptive use and unmet need for family planning.

Conclusion

There are substantial differentials in contraceptive use and unmet need for family planning in rural Uttar Pradesh. In addition to promoting family planning, there is a need to create an atmosphere to reduce son preference, increase the acceptance of girl babies and remove economic inequalities.

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Acknowledgments

All the authors are grateful to all anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments in improving the manuscript.

Funding

No funding was received to conduct this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, 400088, India

    Bal Govind Chauhan

  2. Department of Development Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, 400088, India

    R. Nagarajan

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  1. Bal Govind Chauhan
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  2. R. Nagarajan
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All authors contributed equally to preparing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bal Govind Chauhan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict interest.

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Not applicable.

Availability of data

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available because this study was based on primary data collected during the course of the first author’s doctoral thesis. It can, however, be made available on reasonable request.

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Chauhan, B.G., Nagarajan, R. Contraceptive use and unmet need for family planning among women with at least one child in rural Uttar Pradesh: the role of wealth and gender composition of children. J Public Health (Berl.) 27, 637–648 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-018-0984-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-018-0984-7

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