Prevalence and Factors Affecting the Intention of Women to Limit Childbearing in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Women’s intention to limit childbearing is a leading issue in developing countries like Bangladesh. This study tries to identify which factors are associated with limiting childbearing intention among reproductive-aged women in Bangladesh. We used the most recent Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18 data to analyze this study. The outcome variable was women’s intention to limit childbearing. Individual, household and community-level factors were used as the explanatory variables. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the background characteristics of the study. To check the association between the outcome variable and explanatory variable, we used two-level logistic regression model. The result of this study showed that women’s age, education, wealth index, and use of modern methods had significantly associated with women’s intention to limit childbearing. According to the two-level logistic regression model, the likelihood of women’s intention to limit childbearing was found to be increased with the increased age of respondents. Higher-educated women were 83% lower likelihood of limiting childbearing compared to illiterate women. Women who came from middle wealth index had a 40% lower likelihood to limit childbearing than the poorest women. Women who had used modern methods were 1.52 times more to limit childbearing than women who had not used modern methods. So, improving access to women’s age, wealth index, education and contraceptive use will pay more attention to achieving desired fertility rate.