Ideal Family Size: A Comparative Study of Numerical and Non-Numerical FertilityDesires of Women in Two Sub-Saharan African Countries

摘要

Recent survey findings from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa indicate that asubstantial proportion of women are unable to quantify their desired family size. This study answers two significant questions that arose from these findings. The first is whether women who report non-specific responses are different from those who give specific numerical responses in ways that are likely to affect their fertility and family planning behaviors, and further, whether omitting them from analyses biases the results. The second is whether the survey techniques tend to elicit these non-numeric responses. Evidence shows that women who responded that family size was 'up to God' differ from those who gave specific numeric responses in both fertility and family planning behaviors. They are more likely to want a larger number of children and less likely to approve of family planning or adopt behavior that produces small families. The study concludes that the 'up to God' response cannot be excluded from analysis of family size desires.