Page 160 - IJPS-11-5

International Journal of
Population Studies Contraception and fertility in Zambia

45 44.8 45.0 in the demographic attributes of adolescents rather than
40 38.7 alterations in their reproductive practices. The results
35 33.8 30.7 31.6 27.9 28.5 29.2 indicate that 64% of this variation is attributed to shifts
Percentage (%) 25 14.2 24.5 30.9 in compositional elements, while the remaining 36% was
30
linked to changes in reproductive behaviors.
20
15
10 6.5 6.1 5.9 6.2 5.3 4.7 In Zambia, the main factors that led to a decline in
5 teenage pregnancy were secondary or tertiary level of
0 education, contraceptive use, delayed age at first sexual
DHS 1992 DHS 1996 DHS 2001 DHS 2007 DHS 2013 DHS 2018
Year encounter, and working status. Specifically, the increase in
Contraceptive use Teenage pregnancy Fertility rate contraceptive use among teenagers significantly (p<0.001)
Figure 1. Trends in contraceptive use, fertility, and teenage pregnancy contributed to the reduction in teenage pregnancy
rates in Zambia in 1992 – 2018 by 54.84%. The negative percentage indicates that if
Abbreviation: DHS: Demographic and health survey. contraceptive use had not increased, the prevalence of
teenage pregnancy would have been higher by 54.84%.
analysis shows that the observed increase in the utilization The findings further indicate that the decrease in the
of contraceptive methods by women from 1992 to 2018 incidence of adolescent pregnancy can be attributed to
accounted for 17.67% of the reduction in the fertility rate the shift in the percentage of adolescent girls achieving
in Zambia. In other words, the fertility rate would have either secondary or tertiary educational attainment, which
increased by 17.67% if there had been no increase in the accounted for 87.15% of the variation observed. Similarly,
utilization of contraceptives. the increase in the proportion of adolescents who were
Furthermore, an increase in the proportion of women working significantly contributed 21.19% to the reduction
with secondary education accounted for 33.80% of the in teenage pregnancy rates (Table 4). Furthermore, results
observed reduction in fertility rate. This result indicates show that teenage pregnancy among adolescents with
that the fertility rate would have increased by 33.80% if the primary education would have been higher by 25.67%
proportion of women with a secondary level of education if the proportion of adolescents who attained primary
remained the same in 2018 as they were in 1992. Similarly, education had not changed between 1992 and 2018.
the rise in the proportion of women with tertiary education The increase in the percentage of teenagers who delayed
between 1992 and 2018 contributed 4.57% to the reduction the commencement of their sexual activity had a notable
in fertility. The reduction in the proportion of women who favorable impact of 30.08% on the decline in teenage
were married accounted for a reduction in the fertility rate pregnancies. Changes in the reproductive behavior of
by 15.95%. teenagers who were living in urban areas, had a primary
In terms of fertility behavior, the coefficient shows level of education, and were exposed to mass-media FP
that the positive fertility behavior of women with primary messages positively contributed to the reduction in teenage
education contributed 22.43% to the reduction in the pregnancies. In terms of percentage contributions, change
fertility rate in Zambia. The negative percentage indicates in reproductive behavior among teenagers residing in urban
that the fertility rate would have been higher by 22.43% areas contributed 21.44%, and those with primary education
among women with primary-level education if the fertility contributed 29.98% to the reduction in teenage pregnancy
behavior had not changed. Furthermore, changes in rates. Similarly, an increase in adolescents who received FP
the fertility behavior of women who got married in the messages from the media contributed 7.69% (Table 4).
adolescent age group contributed to a 27.40% reduction in
the country’s fertility rate. 4. Discussion
The aim of this study was to examine the association between
3.5. Decomposition analysis of contraceptive contraceptive transition and fertility dynamics in Zambia.
transition on teenage pregnancy rate Zambia, like many other countries in SSA, has undergone a
The results of the trend change in teenage pregnancy in fertility transition over the past four decades (1980 – 2020).
Zambia between 1992 and 2018 are displayed in Table 4. The total fertility rate has exhibited a downward trend over
The analysis presented examined the effect of contraceptive the past decades, showing a reduction from an average of
transition among teenagers and other predictors on the 7.2 children/woman in 1980 to an average of 4.7 children
reduction of teenage pregnancy rates in Zambia. The results per woman in 2018 (Zambia Statistics Agency et al., 2019).
indicate that the decline in the incidence of adolescent Additionally, teenage pregnancy rates reduced from 33.8%
pregnancy in Zambia can be primarily ascribed to shifts in 1992 to 29.2% in 2018 (Phiri et al., 2023; Zambia Statistics

Volume 11 Issue 5 (2025) 154 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.4866