Levels and determinants of marital fertility among low contraceptive communities of southern Ethiopia: experiences of resistant to fertility decline

Nigatu Regassa, Hawassa University

This study is an empirical study aimed at estimating the level and identifying the demographic, economic and social determinants of marital fertility among some selected rural communities of Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. The data were collected from 1467 women who were selected through the multistage stratified sampling technique. Data analysis was done using both appropriate demographic models and multivariate techniques.The study employed three major techniques for the estimation of fertility level; namely, the Bongaarts model, and the Coale-Trussell Natural Fertility model. The relative contribution or the net effect of each independent variable to the dependent variable (children ever born), controlling for all confounding factors, was examined using the multivariate analysis. The findings of the multivariate analysis using Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) technique revealed that seven predictors (explanatory variables) have significant relationship with fertility.