Abstract
The results reported in this paper are part of a comprehensive cross-sectional study carried out in Basrah governorate-Southern Iraq to quantify specific aspects of fertility. The study covered 2670 ever married women aged 15-60 years. The studied women were interviewed regarding demographic characteristics and detailed history of their pregnancy experience. The results showed that the crude birth rate was 36.4 per 1000 population, the general fertility rate was 139.3 per 1000 women, the average number of pregnancies per woman was 4.3 and the average number of live births was 3.4 per woman. About 37.9% of women had at least one lost pregnancy (abortion or still birth) and pregnancy wastage accounted for 14.1% of all reported pregnancies. The total fertility rate was 6.4 per woman and showed some degree of decline over the last two decades. About 70% (R2=0.70)of fertility variation among women could be explained by variables related to envisaged ideal family size, duration of use of family planning methods, pregnancy wastage, number of women siblings, duration of couple separation, education of woman father, education of woman and education of husband.
Highlights
The results reported in this paper are part of a comprehensive cross-sectional study carried out in Basrah governorate-Southern Iraq to quantify specific aspects of fertility
Al-Khafajie et al[4] reported results of a household based study on rural population in Basrah. They found that children aged under the age of 15 years accounted for 49% of the studied population, crude birth rate was 49.1 per 1000 population and the total fertility rate was 8.0 per woman regardless of marital status
Crude birth rate General fertility rate Marital specific fertility rate per 1000 women Total fertility rate: Based on age-specific rate Based on completed fertility Based on estimates from previous generation
Summary
The results reported in this paper are part of a comprehensive cross-sectional study carried out in Basrah governorate-Southern Iraq to quantify specific aspects of fertility. In a series of population based households surveys carried out in different parts of Basrah governorate, reported crude birth rates for different areas ranged between 27.7 to 34.7 per 1000 population.[7] the national figure for total fertility rate for the period 20002005 for Iraq was 4.8 per woman[8] but a higher figure (6.7) was given for women aged 40-49 years.[9] Regardless of the inconsistent results by various studies, the figures for fertility during the 1990s and early years of the 21st century indicate a clear decline in fertility indicators in Iraq and in Basrah The reasons behind such decline are not clear and not well studied but overall socioeconomic development especially wide spread of education opportunities, availability of family planning methods and socioeconomic crises associated with wars and economic embargo could explain part of the decline. These include Sociodemographic variables, use of family planning methods, pregnancy wastage and women parents characteristics
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