Determinants of desire to have more children among women in Karamoja region

Abstract

A desire to have more children is a common phenomenon in many developing countries including Uganda. The desire to have more children is partly attributed to strong preferences for large family sizes. This study investigated the factors that determine the desire to have more children among women of reproductive age in Karamoja, a region in North Eastern Uganda. Karamoja region has the highest fertility desire of 7.2 children and highest fertility rate of 7.9 children compared to the national of 4.4 children and 5.4 children respectively. The study objective was mainly to find out the factors associated with women‘s desire to have more children in Karamoja region. A secondary analysis of the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey was conducted. The analysis utilized the women‘s (IR) file. A sample of 548 women who had children in the last one year was selected. STATA version 15 was used for all analyses. Data analysis was done in three stages descriptive analysis used in frequency distribution, bivariate analysis was done using the Pearson chi-square test to assess the association between the desire to have more children and the independent variables then multivariate analysis was done using binary logistic regression to find out the significant predictors of fertility desire. The results showed that the significant predictors of fertility desire in Karamoja region were; level of education (OR= 0.08; CI=0.02, 0.34) where less educated women desired to have more children compared to educated women, sex composition of children (OR=7.10;CI=1.06,47.51) where women who had only daughters desired to have more children compared to those with mixed sex children , Ideal number of children (OR=3.01; CI=1.23, 7.41) where women whose ideal number of children was more than 5 children desired to have more children compared to those who had an ideal number of less than 4 children, Number of siblings (OR= 2.91; CI=1.23,6.87)women who had more than 5 siblings desired to have more children compared to those who had less than 4 siblings and employment status (OR= 2.03; CI=1.00, 4.10) were women who were employed desired to have more children compared to unemployed women. The analysis concluded that targeting less educated women and those with children of the same sex (especially when all are girls) with fertility regulation interventions may help reduce fertility desire in this region.