The Desire for Additional Children among Pakistani Women: The Determinants

It is generally argued that the traditional social and economic structure of the Pakistani society keeps the value of children relatively high and the demand for contraception relatively low, resulting in the persistence of high fertility in the country. Nevertheless, there is evidence of a latent demand for fertility control among women in all strata of the population. This study examines the determinants Of the desire for additional children for currently married women in Pakistan, drawing data from the Population, Labour Force and Migration (PLM) Survey of 197.9-80. The variations in the patterns of desired fertility and their relationship to the factors of economic and social change - such as education, husband's occupation, household income, child education, and work - are also analyzed. The analysis is conducted using logit regression models. The basic analysis of desired fertility reveals that a significant minority of currently married fecund women in all subgroups want no more children, and that this is a majority for women with four children or more. Among the factors determining the desire for no more children, the major findings are that besides the strong and all-pervasive effects of the life-cycle factors (such as parity, age, and the number of living son), fertility desires of urban and rural women are determined differently in response to the social and economic factors. While a higher percentage of rural women want more children, their desire for no more children is significantly related to such factors as household income, nuclear family living, and child schooling - factors that are unrelated to urban women's fertility desires. For urban women, alongwith the advantage of being in a more modern, non-agrarian setting, an exposure to urban living and at least secondary schooling are associated with wanting no more children. The likely effective steps suggested to achieve a reduced desire for additional children are an expansion in education beyond the primary levels, the development of an opportunity structure for rural women, and an improvement in the targeting of programme services for those who have the potential motivation to limit fertility.