Indicators on child-bearing
Source: United Nations Population Division and World Health Organization.
Total Estimated Contraceptive prevalence
fertility maternal among married women of
rate, mortality reproductive age (%), 1991/96 *
1995-2000 ratio, 1990 any modern
method method
Afghanistan 6.90 1700 + ... ...
Albania 2.60 65 ... ...
Algeria 3.81 160 + 52 a b 49 a
Angola 6.69 1500 + ... ...
Antigua and Barbuda ... ... 53 a c 51 a c
Argentina 2.62 100 + 74 ...
Armenia 1.70 50 22 c ...
Australia 1.89 9 76 c 72 c
Austria 1.42 10 71 d 56 d
Azerbaijan 2.30 22 17 c ...
Bahamas 1.95 100 + 62 a c 60 a c
Bahrain 2.97 60 + 53 b c e 30 c e
Bangladesh 3.14 850 + 47 39
Barbados 1.73 43 + 55 a c 53 a c
Belarus 1.40 37 50 42
Belgium 1.62 10 79 f 75 f
Belize 3.66 ... 47 a 42 a
Benin 5.83 990 + 9 d g 1 d
Bhutan 5.89 1600 + 19 ...
Bolivia 4.36 650 45 18
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.40 ... ... ...
Botswana 4.45 250 + 33 c 32 c
Brazil 2.17 220 + 66 c 57 c
Brunei Darussalam 2.70 60 + ... ...
Bulgaria 1.45 27 ... ...
Burkina Faso 6.57 930 + 8 h 4
Burundi 6.28 1300 + 9 c 1 c
Cambodia 4.50 900 + ... ...
Cameroon 5.30 550 + 16 4
Canada 1.61 6 73 d 70 d
Cape Verde 3.56 ... ... ...
Central African Republic 4.95 700 + 24 i 4 i
Chad 5.51 1500 + ... ...
Chile 2.44 65 + ... ...
China 1.80 95 83 80
Colombia 2.69 100 + 72 59
Comoros 5.51 950 + ... ...
Congo 5.87 890 + ... ...
Cook Islands 3.50 c ... 38 c j 38 c j
Costa Rica 2.95 55 + 75 65
Côte d'Ivoire 5.10 810 + 11 4
Croatia 1.60 ... ... ...
Cuba 1.55 95 + 70 c 67 c
Cyprus 2.31 5 + ... ...
Czech Republic 1.40 15 69 45
Dem. Rep. of the Congo 6.24 870 + 8 2
Denmark 1.82 9 78 c k 72 c k
Djibouti 5.39 570 + ... ...
Dominica ... ... 50 a c 48 a c
Dominican Republic 2.80 110 + 56 52
East Timor 4.32 ... ... ...
Ecuador 3.10 150 + 57 46
Egypt 3.40 170 47 b i 46 i
El Salvador 3.09 300 53 48
Equatorial Guinea 5.51 820 + ... ...
Eritrea 5.34 1400 + 5 b i 4 i
Estonia 1.30 41 70 k 56 k
Ethiopia 7.00 1400 + 4 c l 3 c l
Fiji 2.76 90 + 40 c 40 c
Finland 1.83 11 ... ...
France 1.63 15 77 80
French Polynesia 2.85 ... ... ...
Gabon 5.40 500 + ... ...
Gambia 5.20 1100 + 12 c 7 c
Gaza Strip 8.00 ... ... ...
Georgia 1.90 33 17 c ...
Germany 1.30 22 75 72
Ghana 5.28 740 + 20 10
Greece 1.38 10 ... ...
Grenada ... ... 54 a c ...
Guadeloupe 2.10 ... ... ...
Guam 3.04 ... ... ...
Guatemala 4.90 200 + 32 i 27 i
Guinea 6.61 1600 2 1
Guinea-Bissau 5.42 910 ... ...
Guyana 2.32 ... ... ...
Haiti 4.60 1000 + 18 a 14 a
Honduras 4.30 220 47 35
Hong Kong m 1.32 7 86 80
Hungary 1.40 30 73 64
Iceland 2.19 0 ... ...
India 3.07 570 + 41 37
Indonesia 2.63 650 + 55 52
Iran (Islamic Republic of) 4.77 120 65 45
Iraq 5.25 310 + 14 b c e 10 c e
Ireland 1.80 10 ... ...
Israel 2.75 7 ... ...
Italy 1.19 12 ... ...
Jamaica 2.44 120 62 a 58 a
Japan 1.48 18 59 53
Jordan 5.13 150 + 35 c 27 c
Kazakstan 2.30 80 59 i 47 i
Kenya 4.85 650 + 33 27
Kiribati 3.80 c ... 37 c 27 c
Korea, Dem. People's Rep. 2.10 70 + 62 n 53 n
Korea, Republic of 1.65 130 + 79 70
Kuwait 2.77 29 + 35 c e 32 c e
Kyrgyzstan 3.21 110 31 c ...
Lao People's Dem. Rep 6.69 650 19 15
Latvia 1.40 40 ... ...
Lebanon 2.75 300 + ... ...
Lesotho 4.86 610 + 23 j 19 j
Liberia 6.33 560 + 6 c 5 c
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 5.92 220 + ... ...
Liechtestein 1.45 c ... ... ...
Lithuania 1.50 36 ... ...
Luxembourg 1.76 0 ... ...
Macau 1.60 ... ... ...
Madagascar 5.65 490 17 5
Malawi 6.69 560 13 7
Malaysia 3.24 80 + 48 c 31 c
Maldives 6.80 ... ... ...
Mali 6.60 1200 + 7 i 5 i
Malta 2.10 0 ... ...
Marshall Islands 4.49 c ... 27 c j 18 c j
Martinique 2.00 ... ... ...
Mauritania 5.03 930 + 3 b c 1 c
Mauritius 2.28 120 + 75 49
Mexico 2.75 110 + 53 c 45 c
Micronesia, Fed. States of 5.60 c ... ... ...
Mongolia 3.27 65 + 61 j 25 j
Morocco 3.10 610 50 42
Mozambique 6.06 1500 + ... ...
Myanmar 3.30 580 + 17 i 14 i
Namibia 4.90 370 29 26
Nepal 4.95 1500 + 29 i 26 i
Netherlands 1.55 12 80 77
Netherlands Antilles 2.10 ... ... ...
New Caledonia 2.53 ... 25 c j ...
New Zealand 2.02 25 ... ...
Nicaragua 3.85 160 49 45
Niger 7.10 1200 4 2
Nigeria 5.97 1000 + 6 c 4 c
Northern Mariana Islands 5.11 c ... ... ...
Norway 1.88 6 76 c 72 c
Oman 7.20 190 + 9 c e 8 c e
Pakistan 5.02 340 + 12 9
Palau 3.00 c ... ... ...
Panama 2.63 55 + 58 d o 54 d
Papua New Guinea 4.65 930 + ... ...
Paraguay 4.17 160 + 56 i 41 i
Peru 2.98 280 + 59 33
Philippines 3.62 280 40 25
Poland 1.65 19 ... ...
Portugal 1.48 15 66 p 33 p
Puerto Rico 2.10 ... 64 a d 58 a d
Qatar 3.77 ... 32 c i 29 c i
Republic of Moldova 1.80 60 22 c ...
Reunion 2.10 ... 67 a c 62 a c
Romania 1.40 130 57 i 14 i
Russian Federation 1.35 75 32 c ...
Rwanda 6.00 1300 + 21 13
Saint Kitts and Nevis 2.84 c ... 41 d k 37 d k
Saint Lucia 3.82 c ... 47 a c 46 a c
St Vincent/Grenadines 3.86 q ... 58 a c 55 a c
Samoa 3.80 35 + 34 a c 34 a c
Saudi Arabia 5.90 130 + ... ...
Senegal 5.62 1200 7 5
Seychelles 2.59 r ... ... ...
Sierra Leone 6.06 1800 + ... ...
Singapore 1.79 10 74 d 73 d
Slovakia 1.50 ... 74 k 41 k
Slovenia 1.30 13 ... ...
Solomon Islands 4.98 ... ... ...
Somalia 7.00 1600 + ... ...
South Africa 3.81 230 + 50 c 48 c
Spain 1.22 7 59 c 38 c
Sri Lanka 2.10 140 + 66 s 44 s
Sudan 4.61 660 + 8 b i t 7 i t
Suriname 2.39 ... ... ...
Swaziland 4.46 560 + 20 c u 17 c u
Sweden 1.80 7 78 d k 71 d k
Switzerland 1.46 6 71 q 65 q
Syrian Arab Republic 4.00 180 36 b 28
Tajikistan 3.93 130 21 c ...
Thailand 1.74 200 + 74 72
The FYR of Macedonia 1.90 ... ... ...
Togo 6.08 640 + 12 c h 3 c
Tonga 5.20 c ... 74 56
Trinidad and Tobago 2.10 90 + 53 a c 44 a c
Tunisia 2.92 170 + 60 i 51 i
Turkey 2.50 180 63 35
Turkmenistan 3.58 55 20 c ...
Uganda 7.10 1200 + 15 8
Ukraine 1.38 50 23 c ...
United Arab Emirates 3.46 26 + ... ...
United Kingdom 1.72 9 82 v ...
United Rep. of Tanzania 5.48 770 + 20 i w 13 i w
United States of America 1.96 12 71 c 67 c
US Virgin Islands 3.03 c ... ... ...
Uruguay 2.25 85 + ... ...
Uzbekistan 3.48 55 28 c ...
Vanuatu 4.36 280 + 15 j 15 j
Venezuela 2.98 120 + ... ...
Viet Nam 2.97 160 + 65 44
Western Sahara 3.98 ... ... ...
Yemen 7.60 1400 + 7 b 6
Yugoslavia 1.80 ... ... ...
Zambia 5.49 940 + 15 9
Zimbabwe 4.68 570 + 48 i 42 i
Sources :
Total fertility rate estimates from Population Division
of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The
1996 Revision (United Nations publication, forthcoming);
maternal mortality ratio estimates from World
Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund, Revised
1990 Estimates of Maternal Mortality-A New Approach by WHO and
UNICEF (Geneva, WHO, 1996); contraceptive use from
World Population Monitoring, 1997
(ESA/P/WP.132, 20 December 1996), supplemented by
Women's Indicators and Statistics Database, Version 3, CD-ROM
(United Nations publication, Sales No. E.95.XVII.6).
* Unless otherwise indicated, data refer to a year between 1991 and 1996
and includes women in consensual unions where possible.
... Not available.
+ Indicates countries or areas for which no reliable national data
on maternal deaths or cause of death are available. For these,
estimates have been made based on a statistical model using two
widely available independent variables -- general fertility rate
and proportion of births assisted by a trained attendant -- to
predict maternal mortality.
a Including women in visiting unions.
b Adjusted from source to exclude breast-feeding.
c Data refer to a year between 1985 and 1990.
d Data refer to a year between 1981 and 1984.
e Refers to nationals of the country only.
f Flemish population.
g Women still abstaining after a birth are not counted as users of contraceptives.
h Excluding prolonged abstinence, reported as the current method by 17
per cent in Burkina Faso in 1993 and 22 per cent in Togo in 1988.
i Preliminary or provisional.
j For all women of reproductive age.
k All sexually active women.
l Excluding Eritrea, Tigrai, Asseb, Ogaden, parts of Gondar and Wello,
and nomadic population.
m Pursuant to a Joint Declaration signed on 19 December 1984, the United
Kingdom restored Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China with
effect from 1 July 1997; the People's Republic of China resumed
the exercise of sovereignty over the territory with effect from
that date.
n Not clear from source whether sample is nationally representative.
o Excluding abstinence, douche and folk methods.
p Data refer to 1979/80.
q Data refer to 1980.
r Data refer to 1993.
s Excluding areas containing roughly 15 per cent of the population.
t North Sudan only.
u Including never married women who have a child.
v Excluding Northern Ireland.
w Excluding Zanzibar.
Technical notes:
Total fertility rate refers to the average number of
children that would be born to each woman if the fertility
patterns of a given period were to stay unchanged; in other
words, it estimates the total number of children a typical girl
will eventually bear if her child-bearing follows the current
fertility patterns and she lives through her entire child-bearing
years. Total fertility rate is estimated by the Population Division
of the United Nations Secretariat using the latest available
demographic data from countries and given as five-year averages.
Maternal mortality ratio is defined as the number of
maternal deaths divided by the number of live births for a given
year and expressed per 100,000 live births. Maternal deaths are
defined as those caused by deliveries and complications of
pregnancy, child-birth and the puerperium. However, the exact
definition varies from source to source and is not always clear
in the original, particularly as regards the inclusion of
abortion-related deaths.
Furthermore, the World Health Organization observes that most maternal
deaths go unregistered in areas where maternal mortality rates are
highest. To address this information gap, WHO and the United Nations
Children's Fund recently developed new estimates of maternal mortality
using a dual strategy. This involved using available data wherever
possible, adjusted to account for the common problems of under-reporting
and misclassification of maternal deaths, and developing a simple
model to predict values for countries with no reliable national
data. The estimates derived from this approach are considered to
be more reliable than earlier ones and are the ones shown here.
Contraceptive use among currently married women aged 15-44
have been compiled by the Population Division of the United
Nations Secretariat from the results of national surveys
associated with the Demographic and Health Surveys, the Maternal
and Child Health Surveys and numerous other national surveys, and
published in World Population Monitoring, 1997
(ESA/P/WP.132, 20 December 1996).
Both overall contraceptive prevalence (that is, percentage
using contraception regardless of method) and prevalence of
modern methods are shown. The group modern methods refers to
clinic and supply methods, and includes highly effective methods
widely developed and adopted for contraceptive practice over the
past few decades. These are the methods most often offered by
family planning programmes. Specifically, they include male and
female sterilization, IUDs, the pill, injectible hormonal
contraceptives, condoms and female barrier methods (diaphragm,
cervical cap, spermicidal foams, creams, jellies and sponges).
Copyright © 1997, United Nations. All rights reserved
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