Page 144 - IJPS-11-5

International Journal of
Population Studies Fertility desire of married women

variations in the prevalence of desire to limit childbearing of married women was from the middle-income level
among married women in SSA countries with a series households in all the countries, in Gabon (21.8%), Mali
of frequencies and percentage distributions. Bivariate (20.8%), Tanzania (19.0%), and Zambia (19.0%). A greater
analysis was then performed through cross-tabulation of proportion of the women in Gabon (52.9%), Mali (58.7%),
the independent variable with the outcome variable using Tanzania (78.9%), and Zambia (51.7%) were working at
Pearson’s Chi-square test. Finally, a multivariate binary the time of the survey.
logistic regression analysis was performed between the Figure 1 shows the proportion of married women who
dependent variable and various independent variables. desired to limit childbearing in SSA countries. In terms of
Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with corresponding p-values country-based analysis, Zambia had the highest proportion
were calculated. Multivariate logistic regression models of married women who desired to limit childbearing,
were performed for each country. Multicollinearity was 40.7% (95% CI: 39.3 – 42.1), whereas Mali had the lowest,
assessed for all the predictor variables to separate the 23.9% (95% CI: 22.7 – 25.2).
independent effects of the interrelated variables. Below
is the binary logistic regression equation presented in 3.2. Distribution of married women who desire to
Equation I, limit childbearing by background characteristics
Logit [P (y = 1)|Xi…Xk] = βo + β1X1 + β2X2.....βkXk (I) Table 2 shows the bivariate analysis of the association
between the independent variables and the desire to limit
where βo is the intercept, β1 is the regression coefficient, childbearing among married women in the four countries
and Xi…Xk are the independent variables (Warner, 2008). included in the study. In all four countries, the age of a
2.4. Ethical approval woman was significantly associated with the desire to limit
childbearing. The desire to limit childbearing was highest
Permission to access the datasets for Gabon, Mali, among older women aged 35 – 49 in all the countries,
Tanzania, and Zambia was requested from the DHS Gabon (48.3%), Mali (60.1%), Tanzania (59.6%), and
Program. Since all ethical protocols were adhered to by Zambia (74.3%). However, the desire to limit childbearing
Inner City Fund International and the respective national was lowest among married women aged 15 – 24 years in all
statistical agencies during the original data collection the countries, with 13.9%, 1.2%, 4.0%, and 9.4% for Gabon,
process, no additional ethical approval was required for the Mali, Tanzania, and Zambia, respectively.
secondary analysis (DHS Program, 2021). The dataset that
was analyzed is publicly available and may be found on the In Zambia, living in urban areas was significantly
website (https://dhsprogram.com/). associated with a high desire to limit childbearing (43.2%
in urban vs. 39% in rural). Contrary to Zambia, in Gabon,
3. Results women living in rural areas were more likely to have the
desire to limit childbearing compared to those living in
3.1. Description of sample characteristics urban areas (39% in rural vs. 31.2% in urban).
Table 1 shows the background characteristics of women Women’s level of education was significantly associated
included in the study. The majority of the married women with the desire to limit childbearing in all countries. Women
in the three countries lived in rural areas: Tanzania (77%), who had a secondary education level had lower reports
Zambia (59%), and Mali (78%). In Gabon, a greater of desire to limit childbearing in Mali (10.8%), Tanzania
proportion (69%) of the married women resided in urban (20.9%), and Zambia (31.9%). In Gabon and Tanzania,
areas. With regard to women’s education, the highest women with primary education (40.5% in Gabon and 32.2%
proportion of women without formal education was in
Mali (72.6%), followed by Tanzania with 19.4%. In Zambia
and Gabon, married women without education were 9.3%
and 8.2%, respectively. The percentage of married women
who had higher education was highest in Gabon (14.9%)
and lowest in Tanzania (1.1%), whereas the majority of
married women in Tanzania and Zambia had primary
education (66.1% and 50.7%, respectively).
Results for wealth status show that in all four countries,
the majority of married women were from rich households,
in Gabon (46.2%), Mali (40.8%), Tanzania (41.4%), and Figure 1. Distribution of married women who desired to limit
Zambia (41.0%). On the other hand, the lowest proportion childbearing in sub-Saharan African countries

Volume 11 Issue 5 (2025) 138 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.5584