Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

FERTILITY PREFERENCES 7
Information on fertility preferences can be useful in understanding future fertility patterns and
demand for contraception. The data are also used to construct measures of unmet need for
contraception and assessments of unwanted or mistimed births. Fertility preferences also help to
evaluate the overall attitudes of women toward childbearing and the general course of fertility.
In the 2009-10 TLDHS, currently married women and men were asked about their fertility
preferences, including their desire to have another child, the length of time they would like to wait
before having another child, and what they consider to be their ideal number of children. These data
make it possible to quantify fertility preferences and, in combination with the data on contraceptive
use, permit estimation of the unmet need for family planning, for both spacing and limiting births.
However, the interpretation of data on fertility preferences is controversial because respondents’
reported preferences are, in most cases, hypothetical, and do not take into consideration the influence
of social pressure. Thus, preferences are subject to change and rationalization. Nevertheless,
information on future reproductive intentions is of fundamental importance in the development of
population policies and in refining and modifying existing family planning programs.
7.1 DESIRE FOR MORE CHILDREN
In the 2009-10 TLDHS, currently married women and men were asked whether they want to
have another child, and if so, how soon. The same question was phrased differently in the case of
pregnant women or men whose wife or wives were pregnant at the time of the interview to ensure that
they were asked not about the current pregnancy but rather about the desire for subsequent children.
Table 7.1 shows future reproductive intentions of currently married women and men by the
number of living children. Nine percent of women want to have another child soon (within two years),
and 35 percent want another child two or more years later. This compares with 11 percent in the 2003
DHS. Another 35 percent want no more children, and about 1 percent have been sterilized. The total
of women who either want to delay their next child or have no more children is therefore 70 percent,
which contrasts greatly with the 22 percent who are currently taking contraceptives. This indicates an
enormous opportunity to reach these women with contraceptive methods that match their needs and
desires.
The desire to stop childbearing—including those already sterilized—increases with the
number of living children—from 2 percent among women with no children to 67 percent among
women with six or more children. The proportion of currently married women who want no more
children more than doubled in the last seven years, from 17 percent as reported in the 2003 DHS to 36
percent in the 2009-10 TLDHS. Presumably women who want no more children would benefit from
increased awareness of long-term contraceptive methods and sterilization options. The great majority
of these women are either taking no contraceptives or are still choosing injectables, which require
administration every three months or more frequently. Asking these women to regularly access
services appears to impose an unnecessary burden on them when longer-term and more permanent
methods are available.
Men’s reproductive intentions differ somewhat from those of women in the same age group.
Men are more likely than women (15 percent compared with 9 percent) to want another child soon.
On the other hand, there is only a small difference in their desire to want another child later (39
percent compared with 35 percent). Women are much more likely to want to limit childbearing than
men, however. More than one in three women want no more children or are sterilized (36 percent)
compared with about one in four men (23 percent), and this difference is consistent at all parities.
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