Page 70 - IJPS-2-2

Transition in risks of higher order births in Nepal: a life table analysis

Table 2a. Life table analysis of the second birth interval of currently married women who have married only once by selected background chara-
cteristics, NDHS-2011

Number of Months by which 50% Proportion attaining second birth within (Months)
Background characteristics cases women attained second birth 24 60 120
Year of first birth
2003–2011 2701 40.20 0.193 0.712 -
1993–2003 3077 32.89 0.256 0.839 0.949
Before 1993 2178 29.93 0.300 0.903 0.982
Residence
Urban 2197 35.64 0.225 0.774 0.921
Rural 5759 32.41 0.261 0.853 0.961
Women’s Education
No education 3899 30.64 0.294 0.893 0.976
Primary 1502 33.06 0.229 0.827 0.949
>Primary 2555 40.33 0.190 0.712 0.895
Work Status of Women
Not working 1677 34.25 0.248 0.793 0.924
Agriculture 4758 31.85 0.261 0.872 0.970
Non-agriculture 1521 37.08 0.221 0.740 0.911
Exposure to Media
Low 2715 31.41 0.278 0.873 0.974
High 5241 34.37 0.236 0.809 0.936
Household wealth Index
Poorest 1560 30.74 0.279 0.913 0.979
Poorer 1466 32.12 0.269 0.863 0.975
Middle 1512 31.77 0.269 0.861 0.968
Richer 1566 33.90 0.233 0.813 0.951
Richest 1852 38.18 0.213 0.727 0.890
Age of mother at first birth
Less than 20 4338 32.28 0.260 0.867 0.967
20–24 3051 33.81 0.245 0.818 0.941
25 and more 567 40.53 0.208 0.686 0.843
Sex of first child
Male 4105 34.62 0.238 0.806 0.939
Female 3851 31.81 0.264 0.858 0.962
Survival of first child
Survived >1 year 7328 34.4 0.224 0.822 0.946
Died in infancy 628 22.8 0.555 0.937 0.993
All 7956 33.28 0.251 0.831 0.950
Source: Computed by the author from NDHS 2011 data

if the first birth occurred within eight years before the survey, the median length of the second birth
interval would be 40 months, whereas it would be 30 months if the first birth had occurred eighteen
years before the survey.
Similar variations were observed for the third and higher birth intervals. Since educated women
have curtailed their fertility, only 48% of women with secondary or higher education proceeded to
the third birth. The ultimate proportion of women attaining a fourth birth within 10 years from the

64 International Journal of Population Studies | 2016, Volume 2, Issue 2