Page 57 - IJPS-7-1

International Journal of Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Family size preferences among women

in a union in Nigeria and associated

factors

Lorretta Favour Chizomam Ntoimo*
Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract: Nigeria’s population is currently estimated at 216million and the country will be
the third most populous in the world in 2050. A major driver of the high population growth
is persistent high fertility. This study examined women’s fertility preferences, which was
measured with ideal family size (IFS) and the associated factors. Data were obtained from the
2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey. The analysis consisted of a weighted sample
of 13, 673 women in union, aged 15–49 years whose first marriage took place within 10 years
before the survey. Descriptive and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted.
The proportion of respondents whose IFS was 5+ was 65%. Slightly above one-quarter had IFS
of four children, and 11% had IFS of 0 – 3. IFS of 5+ was significantly associated with women
resident in the Northern and Southeast regions, rural residents, Muslims, women who had no
education, women working in agriculture, sales/service jobs, those who participated in one or
ARTICLE INFO two out of four household decisions, justified wife beating, have 5+ siblings, experienced child
Received: April 8, 2022 death, and married before age 20. Efforts to achieve the target reduction in total fertility rate in
Accepted: August 8, 2022 Nigeria should be multi-sectoral targeting these subpopulations of women.
Published: August 24, 2022
Keywords: Fertility preferences; Ideal family size; Fertility; Women; Family size
*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
preferences
Lorretta Favour Chizomam
Ntoimo,Federal 1. Introduction
University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria
lorretta.ntoimo@fuoye.edu.ng Globally, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest total fertility rate (TFR) of 4.6 in
CITATION 2021(United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division,
2022). The decline in TFR in many sub-Saharan African countries has been either slow or
Ntoimo LFC. (2021). Family stalled (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division,
size preferences among
women in a union in Nigeria 2022). For instance, the decline in Nigeria’s TFR has been slow for many years. The
and associated factors. country’s TFR declined by 13.7% within 10 years from 7.3 in 1972 to 6.3 in 1982. The
International Journal of ensuing decade witnessed a decline of just 6%, from 6.3 in 1982 to 5.9 in 1992. During
Population Studies, 7(1):51-65. the following decade, the pace of decline reduced to 3% from 5.9 in 1992 to 5.7 in 2003
doi: 10.18063/ijps.v7i1.1318 and slightly decreased by 4% from 5.7 in 2003 to 5.5 in 2013, and 5.3 in 2018 (National
Copyright: ©2021 Ntoimo. Population Commission (NPC) [Nigeria] and ICF, 2019; NPC and ICF International, 2014;
This is an Open-Access article NPC and ICF Macro, 2009; United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
distributed under the terms Population Division, 2022). Of note also is that the decline in Nigeria’s TFR continues to
of the Creative Commons fall short of the numeric target of at least 0.6 reduction every 5 years as stipulated in the
Attribution-Non-Commercial
4.0 International License country’s 1988 population policy, and the revised versions of 2004 (Federal Republic of
(http://creativecommons.org/ Nigeria, 1988; 2004) and 2021 (Federal Government of Nigeria, 2021; Federal Republic
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting of Nigeria, 1988; 2004). The rate of decline has consistently fallen short of the target with
all non-commercial use, a decline of only 0.2 over 10 years from 2003 to 2013 and between 2013 and 2018. The
distribution, and reproduction failure to achieve this target and the targets of the other components of the policy has been
in any medium, which provided
that the original work is attributed to structural issues, inadequate funding, and lack of political will, among others
properly cited. (National Population Commission of Nigeria and Health Policy Project, 2015).

International Journal of Population Studies | 2021, Volume 7, Issue 1 51