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

FERTILITY 4
One of the major objectives of the 2009-10 TLDHS was to examine levels, trends and
differentials in fertility in Timor-Leste. Fertility is one of the three principal components of population
dynamics that determines the size and structure of the population of a country. Analysis in this chapter
is based on birth histories collected from women age 15-49 who were interviewed during the survey.
These women were asked the number of children living at home, children living elsewhere, and
children who had died, in order to obtain the total number of live births that the women had in their
lifetime. For each live birth, information was collected on the name, sex, age, and survival status of
the child. For children who had died, age at death was recorded. Information from the birth history
was then used to assess current and completed fertility and factors related to fertility, such as age at
first birth, birth intervals, and adolescent childbearing. In addition to information on live births, the
survey included questions pertaining to pregnancies in the past five years that did not result in a live
birth, including the month and year the pregnancy ended and the duration of the pregnancy.
This chapter analyzes the information collected in the 2009-10 TLDHS on current fertility
and differentials by the background characteristics of the women. Trends in fertility and cumulative
fertility in Timor-Leste are reported. The chapter also examines the length of birth intervals, age at
first birth, and frequency of teenage pregnancy and motherhood. As is standard practice, the analysis
of fertility presented here is based only on live births.
4.1 CURRENT FERTILITY
The level of current fertility is one of the most
important demographic indicators for determining the
status of women in a society. Health and family planning
policy makers are aware of its direct relevance to
population policy and programs. Measures of current
fertility are presented in Table 4.1 for the three-year
period preceding the survey, corresponding roughly to the
calendar years 2007-2009. A three-year period was
chosen because it reflects the most current information,
while also allowing the rates to be calculated on a
sufficient number of cases so as not to compromise the
statistical precision of the estimate.
Several measures of fertility are shown in this
table. Age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) 1 , expressed as
the number of births per thousand women in a specified
age group, are calculated by dividing the number of live
births to women in a specific age group by the number of
woman-years lived in that age group. The total fertility
rate (TFR) is the sum of the ASFRs and is defined as the
total number of births a woman would have by the end of
her childbearing period if she were to pass through those
years bearing children at the currently observed ASFRs.
Table 4.1 Current fertility
Age-specific and total rate, the general fertility rate,
and the crude birth rate for the three years
preceding the survey, by residence, Timor-Leste
2009-10
Age group
Residence
Urban Rural
1 Numerators of the age-specific fertility rates are calculated by summing the number of live births that occurred
in the period 1-36 months preceding the survey (determined by the date of interview and the date of birth of the
child), and classifying them by the age (in 5-year groups) of the mother at the time of birth (determined by the
mother’s date of birth). The denominators of the rates are the number of woman-years lived in each of the
specified 5-year groups during the 1 to 36 months preceding the survey.
Total
15-19 35 57 51
20-24 187 236 221
25-29 251 287 276
30-34 235 261 254
35-39 171 205 197
40-44 64 96 89
45-49 33 51 47
TFR (15-49) 4.9 6.0 5.7
GFR 153 183 175
CBR 33.1 33.2 33.2
Notes: Age-specific fertility rates are per 1,000
women. Rates for age group 45-49 may be slightly
biased due to truncation. Rates are for the period
1-36 months prior to interview.
TFR: Total fertility rate expressed per woman
GFR: General fertility rate expressed per 1,000
women
CBR: Crude birth rate, expressed per 1,000
population
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