Assessment of fertility and contraception in seven Philippine provinces : 1975

This report documents some of the findings of this survey, which covered the number and socioeconomic characteristics of the household population, the marriage and pregnancy histories of ever-married women between 15 and 54, and the FP histories of all married women between l5-54. Although birth rates in the seven provinces in 1975 were generally high (35/1000), fertility levels varied markedly, especially between urban and rural populations. Only slight declines in fertility rates occurred during the first half of the 1970"s, and these were traceable to the small proportion of urban women who delayed marriage after exposure to prolonged and more extensive education and nonagricultural work. Timing of marriage emerged as the key factor explaining urban-rural fertility differentials. Marital fertility rates were uniformly high in all residential strata, suggesting that the fertility behavior of married women, whether urban or rural, differed little in the recent past. As of 1975, contraceptive practice had had little effect in reducing fertility levels. While modern contraceptives were used effectively by some of the more educated women, contraceptive prevalence rates were low in the more traditional rural areas, due in part to the persistence of the large-family ideal; inadequate contraceptive knowledge among women, leading to a widespread fear of contraceptive side-effects and high dropout rates among users; and a general aversion to innovation. Up to 1975, the response to modern FP methods had been most positive among women experiencing the greatest amount of social transformation. This seems to suggest that the "cafeteria" approach to FP used to that date, with its lack of closer links to changes in other spheres of life, is not the most effective in rural areas. The Government"s plan to couple FP with related and more broadly defined development efforts offers better prospects for reducing the country"s population growth rate. An analysis of the survey data"s reliability and a 49-item list of references (1938-76) are included.