Fertility and the use of birthspacing methods in Malawi : an exploratory study of Mzimba district

Abstract

This study was based on data from the 1984 Malawi Family Formation Survey which was a nationwide sample survey conducted by the National Statistical Office and the Ministry of Health. This is an exploratory study on fertility and the use of birthspacing methods in Malawi based on data for the 476 ever-married women in Mzimba District. The major limitation of the data was the small sample size which limited the number of factors to be examined. Furthermore, a detailed classification of the variables have not been analyzed because cell sizes would be too small to be meaningful. Because the sample was designed to obtain estimates of total number of women aged 15-49 and their children at the regional level for rural areas and at the national level for urban areas, this study used unweighted data examining fertility differentials of ever-married women by place of residence, age at marriage, type of marriage, education and husband's occupation as well as family size preferences and knowledge and use of birthspacing methods. The objective of the study was to identify major determinants of fertility in Mzimba. The number of children ever born alive was the measure of fertility. The study showed that fertility differentials existed only by age at first marriage and also between women who were first wives and those who were second or higher order wives in polygamous marriages. Woman's current age appeared to influence family size preference positively. The study revealed low levels of knowledge and use of birthspacing methods among women in Mzimba District. Show more