Fertility Desire and Contraceptive Use among Women in Nigeria

Studies have showed that decision making at the household level whether joint or solely by husband or wife have effect on whether a woman would use contraceptive or not. This study examines regional differences in decision making in households on whether or not to use contraceptives and how this influence actual use in Nigeria. It employed the 2013 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) data set in which variables of interest were extracted. The data set was analysed using Univariate, Bivariate, and multivariate (i.e. binary logistic regression) techniques. Results of the analysis is statistically significant in husband/wife fertility desire on contraceptive use by place of residence (p-value = 0.000), education (p-value = 0.000), and wealth index (p-value = 0.000). Findings also showed statistically significant husband/wife fertility desire on contraceptive use by age of respondent (p-value = 0.000), religion (p-value = 0.000), region (p-value = 0.000), and work status (pvalue = 0.000) among women. Binary logistic result shows that Women who want the same number of children as their spouse were 1.4 times as likely as those who don’t know their husbands desire to use contraceptive methods, while women whose husband want fewer children were 1.8 times as likely as those who don’t know to use contraceptive methods. Policy and programmes geared towards improving contraceptive decision making and use in households will need to consider these factors