Eritrea 1995: Results from the Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

This article presents a statistical summary from the 1995 Eritrea Demographic and Health Survey for fertility, contraceptive usage, breast feeding, infant mortality, immunization, diarrheal disease, and malnourishment. 15.6% had received a partial primary education, 8.6% received a primary education, and 9.9% received a secondary education. Fertility was 6.1 children/woman during 1992-95; 7.0 in rural areas and 4.2 in urban areas. Fertility by educational level was 6.9 for uneducated women, 5.5 for partially primary educated women, 4.3 for primary educated women, and 3.0 for secondary educated women. The lowest mean ideal fertility was 4.8 for women aged 15-19 years and 4.7 for childless women. Fertility ideals increased with age and number of living children. 18.1% desired a stop to childbearing. 56.2% of women with 7 or more children desired a stop to childbearing. Desire to stop childbearing increased with number of living children. 17.4% of women with 4 living children desired a stop to childbearing. Contraceptive prevalence was 19.3% among urban women in a union, and 4.6% among rural women. 39.9% of women with a secondary education used contraception. Modern method use was 4.0%, and traditional method use was 4.0%. 62.0% knew of any modern method. Nonusers were predominantly women who desired more children or knew no method. 20.0% were single; 66.7% were in a union. The median age at first birth was 21.4 years. The median duration of breast feeding was 22.0 months. Infant mortality was 66/100,000 during 1991-95. Infant mortality fluctuated between 74-80 by residence, and 56-87 by education. 41.4% of children aged 12-23 months had received all vaccines. 23.6% of children aged under 3 years had diarrhea in the 2 weeks before the survey. 16.4% of children aged under 3 years were moderately malnourished. 3.1% were severely malnourished.