Determinants of unmet need for family planning in the Philippines
Date
2013-04
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Abstract
The gap between a woman's fertility preference and her contraceptive behavior is defined as an unmet need for family planning. Our study extends the empirical analysis of Casterline, et al. (1997) regarding the determinants of unmet need in the Philippines by way of including explanatory variables that indicate women's fertility preference and perceived costs. Applying a logistic regression to a sample of 19, 918 married, fecund Filipino women, our study finds that: 1) total unmet need decreases significantly with the empowerment of women's fertility preferences and decision-making capacity and increases significantly with couple's perceived costs of contraception; 2) spouse-related characteristics render weak marginal effects on the propensity of the woman to have an unmet need; 3) unmet need does not exist independently of a woman's age; and 4) mistimed pregnancies prove to be more of a problem than unwanted pregnancies.
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Family planning, Contraceptive, Philippines