Study on factors affecting fertility of Bangladeshi women

Abstract

This is a cross sectional study conducted among Currently Married Women of Reproductive Age (CMWRA) with a sample size of 476 selected purposively using a semi-structured questionnaire in 2018 at Moulvibazar Sadar to explore the factors affecting fertility. The result shows that 55.26% respondents were within 35 years age whereas only 4.28% from age group 46-49 years age group, 33% of the respondents got married at <16 years of age and 18.70% were illiterate, 47.90% had primary education. It is evident that 76% of the respondents were from rural area; 88% were Muslims, 29.41% from lower middle class followed by upper middle class (25.42%) and poorest comprised only 7.56%. The result explored that 73.91% of the respondents were from age group 41-45 got married before 16 years of age followed by 36-40 years (68.24%), 46-49 years (66%), 20-25 and 26-30 years age groups 52.38% and 52.75% respectively; 73.33% of respondents from rural area got married at <16 years of age, 68.42% of the Muslim at <16 years. The study explored that 96.39% from poorer section and 83.33% from poorest section got married at <16 years of age. Current study revealed that 82.91% of the respondents having secondary education got married before 16 years of age followed by illiterate (82.02%). It is explored that the age at marriage is statistically associated with residence, education, wealth index and religion (p= 0.001, 0.03, 0.001, 0.001 respectively). We conclude that the sociodemographic condition contributes mostly to fertility differentials in Bangladesh.