Afghanistan Mortality Survey 2010 - Measure DHS

Figure 3.3 Total Fertility Rates by Background CharacteristicsAFGHANISTAN5.1RESIDENCEUrbanRural4.75.2EDUCATIONNo educationMadrassaPrimarySecondaryHigher2.83.64.74.45.3WEALTH QUINTILELowestSecondMiddleFourthHighest3.2.3 Fertility TrendsIn addition to the comparison of current andcompleted fertility, trends in fertility over time can beexamined by comparing age-specific fertility rates from theAMS 2010 for successive five-year periods preceding thesurvey (Table 3.3). Because women 50 years and olderwere not interviewed in the survey, the rates for older agegroups become progressively more truncated for periodsmore distant from the survey date. For example, ratescannot be calculated for women age 35-39 for the period15-19 years before the survey because these women wouldhave been over age 50 at the time of the survey andtherefore not eligible to be interviewed.Nonetheless, the results in Table 3.3 show thatfertility has dropped substantially among all age groups,5.35.05.45.24.80.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0Number of childrenAMS 2010Table 3.3 Trends in age-specific fertility ratesAge-specific fertility rates for five-year periodspreceding the survey, by mother’s age at the time ofthe birth, Afghanistan 2010Mother’s Number of years preceding surveyage at birth 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-1915-19 90 146 175 19420-24 279 333 351 35225-29 287 350 354 35630-34 235 289 316 [359]35-39 145 217 [257]40-44 68 [143]45-49 [28]Note: Age-specific fertility rates are per 1,000 women.Estimates in brackets are truncated. Rates exclude themonth of interview.mainly during the last 15 years. For example, the age-specific fertility rate for women age 15-19 declinedfrom 175 births per 1,000 women in the 10-14 years preceding the survey to 90 births per 1,000 women inthe 0-4 years before the survey, a 49 percent decline. The pace of fertility decline has increased in all agegroups during the last 5 years compared to the preceding time periods.Many factors may have contributed to the ongoing fertility decline in Afghanistan. The internal aswell as external displacement of people due to decades of political instability and insecurity may be oneof the fundamental reasons for this change. The movement of people from remote rural areas to semiurbanor urban areas may have influenced couples to have smaller families for social and economicreasons. Furthermore, exposure to modern means of communications and easy access to modern familyplanning methods not previously widely available in Afghanistan may also have had an impact.Fertility, Marriage, and Family Planning | 43