Factors associated with fertility among married women in the peasant sector in Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that influence fertility among married women in the peasant sector in Uganda. The main objective of the study was to assess the factors associated with fertility among married women in the peasant sector. This study used secondary data from the UBOS and ICF, 2018, UDHS, 2016; specifically the results of the women interviews were used. The outcome variable used in this study was derived from the data collected on the number of children ever born. The independent variables were selected from demographic, socio-economic and sexual behavior factors hypothesized to be associated with the number of children. These included education level, wealth quintile, religion, and region, age at first marriage and age. Univariate analysis and bivariate analysis were used to determine the significance of independent variables on the number of children ever born. Findings from the univariate analysis indicated that most of the respondents had less than five children, majority were Catholics, age group 30-34, no educated, Eastern region and those in the poorest wealth quintile. Furthermore from bivariate analysis, results show that the number of children (6+) is highest among married women in age group 40-44 with 85.9 percent, Muslims with 49.1 percent, the non-educated 68.8 percent, the rich with 49.1 and women who were from central region with 51.5 percent. This study found out that the number of children is significantly related to age, educational level, wealth index and region. The study accepts that the higher the wealth index, education level and contraceptive use, the lower the fertility as indicated in the hypothesis. Therefore i recommend the Ministry of health to invest more in girl child education specifically in regions associated with higher fertility levels including Central and Eastern. More awareness should also be done to encourage women to have fewer children and in changing people’s attitudes towards the use of contraceptives.