D ESIRE FOR M ORE C HILDREN

Currently married women and men in Cambodia were asked whether they wanted to have a child (or another child) and, if so, how soon. Table 10.1 presents fertility preferences among currently married women and men age 15-49 by number of living children. Forty-two percent of currently married women state that they want to have another child; this is a slight increase from the 2010 CDHS, in which 38 percent of women stated that they wanted to have another child. Twelve percent of women want to have a child within two years, 27 percent prefer to wait for two years or more to have another child, and 2 percent want another child but are undecided as to when they want to have that child. Slightly more than half of married women want no more children; 52 percent want no more or have been sterilized. This is a slight decrease relative to the percentage in the 2010 CDHS who reported wanting no more children (56 percent).

Three percent of married women are undecided about whether they want more children. The information presented in Table 10.1 indicates that, among women who would like to have another child, many prefer to space their pregnancies and are potentially in need of family planning for that purpose, as are the larger proportions of women who express the desire to limit their births.

Fertility preferences among men are similar to those of women. Forty-eight percent of currently married men want to have another child, 51 percent do not want to have another child (or have been sterilized), and less than 1 percent are undecided. Most men who want to have a child want to wait two or more years (33 percent of all currently married men).

T

112 • Fertility Preferences

Table 10.1 Fertility preferences by number of living children

Percent distribution of currently married women and currently married men age 15-49 by desire for children, according to number of living children, Cambodia 2014

Number of living children¹

Total Desire for children 0 1 2 3 4 5 6+

WOMEN

Have another soon² 73.2 19.2 8.7 4.0 2.5 2.2 0.5 12.4 Have another later³ 12.1 62.5 30.5 11.0 3.4 1.3 0.6 27.0 Have another, undecided when 4.3 3.3 2.3 1.5 1.0 0.8 0.1 2.1 Undecided 1.3 3.1 4.7 3.2 1.3 1.5 0.5 3.1 Want no more 4.4 9.6 48.4 71.0 79.3 81.8 85.7 48.4 Sterilized⁴ 0.4 0.6 1.9 4.9 6.4 7.3 6.5 3.1 Declared infecund 4.3 1.8 3.2 4.5 6.1 5.0 6.2 3.8 Missing 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Number 673 2,824 3,452 2,283 1,392 713 563 11,898

MEN

Have another soon² 72.1 18.7 9.0 7.2 4.6 4.9 2.9 13.8 Have another later³ 14.1 70.0 39.3 17.9 6.8 3.6 0.6 32.5 Have another, undecided when 1.0 1.1 1.9 1.6 0.2 0.4 1.0 1.3 Undecided 0.9 0.9 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.6 Want no more 6.3 8.7 48.4 70.2 84.8 85.6 93.8 49.8 Sterilized⁴ 0.4 0.2 0.2 1.7 2.1 1.7 0.9 0.9 Declared infecund 5.1 0.3 0.6 0.6 0.9 1.4 0.4 0.9 Missing 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0 2.3 0.2 0.2 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Number 215 754 1,002 669 400 220 145 3,405

1 The number of living children includes current pregnancy for women.

2 Wants next birth within 2 years

3 Wants to delay next birth for 2 or more years

4 Includes both female and male sterilization

Tables 10.2.1 and 10.2.2 display the percentage of currently married women and men age 15-49 who want no more children by number of living children and background characteristics. As mentioned above, over half of currently married women want no more children (52 percent). Desire to limit childbearing increases with increasing number of living children, from 5 percent among married women with no living children to 92 percent among women with six or more living children. There are particularly notable increases in the proportion of women wanting no more children between parities one and two (a difference of 40 percentage points) and parities two and three (a difference of 26 percentage points). The large proportion of women indicating a desire to have no more children at parities two and three is consistent with an ideal family size of two to three children.

Table 10.2.1 Desire to limit childbearing: Women

Percentage of currently married women age 15-49 who want no more children, by number of living children, according to background characteristics, Cambodia 2014

Background characteristic

Number of living children¹

Total 0 1 2 3 4 5 6+

Residence

Urban 4.2 12.2 54.8 79.5 87.4 90.6 93.6 50.8 Rural 4.9 9.8 49.4 75.2 85.4 88.9 92.1 51.7 Province

Banteay Meanchey (5.6) 10.4 45.9 82.6 85.1 (95.2) (92.2) 48.1 Kampong Cham (20.9) 11.4 40.1 74.7 88.5 (85.1) (90.2) 51.2 Kampong Chhnang (0.0) 4.5 52.2 75.7 86.0 (100.0) (90.9) 52.8 Kampong Speu (3.9) 6.1 51.2 80.0 92.0 (92.8) (97.0) 51.8 Kampong Thom (3.3) 15.9 52.5 78.6 93.6 93.4 (94.2) 59.1 Kandal (0.0) 6.4 51.6 84.5 89.0 * * 51.4 Kratie (1.7) 7.2 48.7 65.0 79.0 89.4 (99.2) 50.8 Phnom Penh 2.5 12.0 57.0 83.4 86.9 * * 49.8 Prey Veng (5.1) 18.0 56.7 77.2 85.9 (82.7) * 54.5 Pursat (0.0) 6.1 40.6 77.1 90.3 (97.0) (87.0) 50.7 Siem Reap (2.5) 12.5 51.8 75.8 78.5 (88.9) (100.0) 55.0 Svay Rieng * 20.6 63.8 87.1 93.1 * * 60.6 Takeo (0.0) 9.2 43.4 57.9 75.6 (65.2) * 42.7 Otdar Meanchey (0.0) 7.4 50.1 78.1 80.9 (92.0) (89.2) 51.5 Battambang/Pailin (5.3) 5.4 48.9 74.3 86.0 (92.5) * 50.5 Kampot/Kep (3.3) 7.2 61.5 64.0 74.0 (80.7) (82.3) 50.0 Preah Sihanouk/

Koh Kong (3.4) 5.7 45.9 79.1 83.1 (96.7) (89.2) 51.3 Preah Vihear/

Stung Treng (0.7) 6.9 41.0 66.5 86.1 (95.9) (96.3) 49.0 Mondul Kiri/

Ratanak Kiri (4.2) 9.7 38.5 69.2 92.3 (89.1) 92.7 48.2 Education

No education 7.0 17.2 49.7 71.4 85.8 86.1 87.2 62.1 Primary 5.3 11.7 50.2 75.6 86.4 89.1 94.7 55.7 Secondary and

higher 3.9 7.3 50.8 79.9 82.9 97.5 (91.8) 39.4 Wealth quintile

Lowest 9.5 11.8 43.6 75.6 85.0 90.2 93.5 55.5 Second 8.1 11.7 49.0 71.5 87.3 89.8 91.5 52.7 Middle 5.3 8.5 51.7 73.7 80.7 85.8 88.8 50.0 Fourth 0.8 9.4 50.9 77.1 90.6 87.9 96.2 50.3 Highest 2.8 9.8 54.6 80.9 83.5 93.3 (87.8) 49.4 Total 4.7 10.1 50.4 75.9 85.6 89.1 92.2 51.6 Note: Women who have been sterilized are considered to want no more children. Figures in parentheses are based on 25-49 unweighted cases. An asterisk indicates that a figure is based on fewer than 25 unweighted cases and has been suppressed.

1 The number of living children includes the current pregnancy.

It is worth noting that the proportion of women who want no more children is much larger among those with no education (62 percent) than among those with a secondary education or higher (39 percent).

There is considerable variation across provinces; Takeo has the smallest proportion of women wishing to curtail their fertility (43 percent), whereas Svay Rieng has the highest proportion (61 percent). The proportion of women who want no more children is similar in urban and rural areas (51 percent and 52 percent, respectively). Desire to limit childbearing generally decreases with increasing household wealth.

As observed for women, the percentage of currently married men age 15-49 who want no more children increases with number of living children. However, men in rural areas are slightly more likely than men in urban areas to want no more children (51 percent and 48 percent, respectively). By province, the percentage of men who want no more children ranges from 38 percent in Battambang/Pailin to 60 percent in Siem Reap. The percentage of men who want no more children is inversely associated with level of education and is lower among those in the highest wealth quintile than among those in the lower four quintiles.

114 • Fertility Preferences

Table 10.2.2 Desire to limit childbearing: Men

Percentage of currently married men age 15-49 who want no more children, by number of living children, according to background characteristics, Cambodia 2014

Background characteristic

Number of living children¹

Total 0 1 2 3 4 5 6+

Residence

Urban 8.1 9.1 53.7 76.7 75.9 * * 47.9 Rural 6.4 8.8 47.7 71.2 88.4 87.4 96.0 51.2 Province

Banteay Meanchey * (7.4) 57.3 (68.8) * * * 50.6 Kampong Cham * (2.3) 44.5 (70.9) (82.5) * * 51.5 Kampong Chhnang * (6.8) (35.7) (71.2) * * * 46.2 Kampong Speu * (17.4) 62.6 (67.3) * * * 59.3 Kampong Thom * (8.0) 39.9 (76.5) * * * 53.4 Kandal * (8.2) (58.6) (75.1) * * * 53.2 Kratie * (11.0) 57.7 (71.3) * * * 53.8 Phnom Penh (15.3) (8.1) 58.6 (83.2) * * * 47.8 Prey Veng * (18.7) 54.3 (62.4) * * * 52.6 Pursat * (11.2) (19.8) (63.0) (94.1) * * 43.0 Siem Reap * (19.7) (61.7) (71.9) * * * 59.8 Svay Rieng * (4.3) (52.8) (71.2) * * * 44.7 Takeo * (5.6) (43.5) (75.8) (91.6) * * 52.9 Otdar Meanchey * (17.2) 56.4 (76.7) * * * 53.7 Battambang/Pailin * (2.9) 29.0 (79.2) * * * 37.5 Kampot/Kep * (9.9) 55.1 (74.2) (94.1) * * 58.9 Preah Sihanouk/

Koh Kong * (0.8) 40.0 (59.2) (86.6) * * 44.1 Preah Vihear/

Stung Treng * (7.6) (25.8) (49.2) * * * 39.5 Mondul Kiri/

Ratanak Kiri * (1.4) 21.8 (65.3) (86.5) * * 42.8 Education

No education * (20.1) 62.8 56.0 (94.0) (94.5) (93.4) 63.3 Primary 7.1 10.3 47.8 73.3 84.9 86.6 95.1 55.0 Secondary and

higher 6.8 6.8 47.4 73.0 88.2 (83.8) (94.9) 43.9 Wealth quintile

Lowest (12.2) 17.9 43.1 66.0 88.3 82.1 100.0 55.4 Second (6.0) 6.3 46.8 75.1 90.6 (91.5) (90.0) 52.0 Middle (2.0) 8.0 48.3 71.7 78.8 (93.0) (89.1) 49.9 Fourth (4.4) 7.6 53.2 68.3 92.4 (82.0) * 51.3 Highest 9.3 6.1 49.5 77.4 82.1 * * 45.4 Total 6.8 8.9 48.6 72.0 86.9 87.3 94.8 50.7 Note: Men who have been sterilized or who state in response to the question about desire for children that their wife has been sterilized are considered to want no more children. Figures in parentheses are based on 25-29 unweighted cases.

An asterisk indicates that a figure is based on fewer than 25 unweighted cases and has been suppressed.

1 The number of living children includes one additional child if the respondent’s wife is pregnant (or if any wife is pregnant for men with more than one current wife).