Sterilization in Panama

Abstract

Data from the 1976 World Fertility survey was used to evaluate the impact of the sterilization of females on population growth in Panama. The study revealed 33% of all Panamanian women who wanted no more children were sterilized and 21% of all ever-married women of reproductive age were sterilized. 49% of these sterilizations occurred since 1949. It was estimated that these sterilizations would avert 0.84 births for each sterilized woman over a 25 year period. Births averted by sterilization were estimated to have reduced the birth rate by 14% and the number of unwanted births by 41%. The % of sterilized women increased markedly with greater age and marriage duration and with higher parity until the 5th birth. The % of sterilized women also increased as the number of births in the 1st 5 years of marriage increased and the % of sterilized women was higher among legally married women than among those living in consensual unions. The % of those sterilized was also higher among women whose last child was wanted compared to those whose last child was unwanted. Sterilized women were more likely to live in urban areas and to have previously used no contraception than were nonsterilized women. Multiple regression analysis revealed these variables and several other ones could jointly explain only 15% of the variation in sterilization status. The remaining 85% of the variation could not be explained using any of the variables for which data was available from the World Fertility Survey. Tables show 1) the % and number of sterilized women among ever-married women who want no more children according to selected demographic and social characteristic; 2) the distribution of ever-married sterilized women according to selected life cycle characteristics; 3) the % of sterilized women among ever-married women who want no more children according to duration since last birth; 4) the mean number of children born to sterilized and nonsterilized ever-married women by current age and duration of marriage; and 5) the mean number of children ever-born to sterilized and nonsterilized women who want no more children by risk of childbirth. Other tables show the number of averted births attributable to sterilization.