Fertility and Family Planning.
About: This article is published in Population Studies-a Journal of Demography.The article was published on 1970-03-01. It has received 95 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Fertility & Family planning.
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TL;DR: A review of the history of unmet need and the development of increasingly refined methods of its empirical measurement is given in this article, where the authors re-evaluate its utility and argue that the concept encourages an integration of family planning and broader development approaches to population policy.
Abstract: Unmet need for family planning has been a core concept in international population discourse for several decades. In this paper the authors re-evaluate its utility. The authors review the history of unmet need and the development of increasingly refined methods of its empirical measurement. The authors then turn to the main questions that have been raised about unmet need during the past decade some of which concern the validity of the concept and others its role in the post-International Conference on Population and Development environment. The discussion draws heavily on empirical research conducted during the 1990s much of it localized in-depth studies combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies that has significantly advanced our understanding of the nature and causes of unmet need. Of the causes of unmet need other than those related to access to services three emerge from the in-depth studies as especially salient: lack of necessary knowledge about contraceptive methods social opposition to their use and health concerns about possible side effects. The authors argue that the concept of unmet need for family planning by joining together contraceptive behavior and fertility preferences encourages an integration of family planning and broader development approaches to population policy. In its emphasis on individual aspirations and their fulfillment unmet need remains a readily defended rationale for the formulation of population policy and a sensible guide to the design of family planning programs. (authors)
309 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors sketch the worldwide change over the past two centuries in the standard of living, broadly conceived, and conclude that the picture is not one of universal progress, but it is the greatest advance in the condition of the world population ever achieved in such a brief span of time.
Abstract: By many measures, a revolution in the human condition is sweeping the world. Most people today are better fed, clothed, and housed than their predecessors two centuries ago. They are healthier, live longer, and are better educated. Women’s lives are less centered on reproduction and political democracy has gained a foothold. Although western Europe and its offshoots have been the leaders of this advance, most of the less developed countries have joined in during the 20th century, with the newly emerging nations of sub-Saharan Africa the latest to participate. Although the picture is not one of universal progress, it is the greatest advance in the condition of the world’s population ever achieved in such a brief span of time. The purpose of this article is to sketch this worldwide change over the past two centuries in the standard of living, broadly conceived. I start with a short discussion of the standard of living concept, proceed to individual components of the standard of living, and conclude with a few summary observations.
263 citations
TL;DR: The research reported here was carried out amongst the Yoruba, a sub Saharan people, among whom it is more desirable in terms of social stability to practise female sexual abstinence mainly within marriage, rather than outside it.
Abstract: Summary Although sexual abstinence has probably been the single most important factor in restricting human fertility, Western researchers have tended to regard it as a phenomenon mostly found outside marriage. The research reported here was carried out amongst the Yoruba, a sub Saharan people, among whom it is more desirable in terms of social stability to practise female sexual abstinence mainly within marriage, rather than outside it. A similar situation is found widely in tropical Africa. Data are reported from five surveys carried out in 1973–75 in the Changing African Family and Nigerian Family Projects. Three types of marital abstinence are shown to have an effect in reducing fertility: post-natal abstinence (often wrongly described as a ‘taboo’), terminal abstinence, and abstinence at other times. Female sexual abstinence is not paralleled by an equal practice of male abstinence, and the main reason for abstinence is to preserve long birth intervals and periods of lactation in a society prone to hi...
158 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors found that with development, the old-age security value of the child decreases, which appears to be a key process contributing to lower fertility as well as to the modification of values concerning the place of a child and the care of the aged in society.
Abstract: Some of the findings of the nine-country "Value of Children Study" pertaining to the perceived value of children in providing old-age security to their parents are presented. To what extent this value is attributed by parents to their children and what benefits are expected from children were assessed in the context of socioeconomic development. Specifically, it was found that with development, the old-age security value of the child decreases, which appears to be a key process contributing to lower fertility as well as to the modification of values concerning the place of the child and the care of the aged in society. Thus, the value attributed to the child forms an explanatory link at the individual level between development and declining fertility.
142 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the economic models for understanding the empirical regularities in fertility in low-income countries are outlined, and the authors suggest that the changing composition of income between labor and non-human capital and between male and female productivity are as important for the decline in fertility as the overall level of national income.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter outlines the economic models for understanding the empirical regularities in fertility in low-income countries Applications of microeconomics to understand the demand for children emphasize several special aspects of children Their cost to parents is affected by the opportunity cost of the time of mothers, who in most societies contribute a disproportionate share of their time to child rearing Demand models predict and empirical studies confirm that increase in women's wages and education have a more negative impact on fertility than do increase in men's wages and education, or, for that matter, than does nonhuman capital income, which is indeed often associated with increased fertility in low-income agricultural settings The changing composition of income between labor and nonhuman capital and between male and female productivity are as important for the decline in fertility as the overall level of national income An increasing number of studies that suggest programs increasing the schooling of women, improving child health and nutrition, and diffusing family planning methods have contributed to the declines in child mortality, fertility, and population growth rates in low-income developing countries
117 citations