Value of children, fertility behavious and contraception use in an Agricultural society in Uttar Pradesh, India

Ravendra K. Sharma, Indian Council of Medical Research

Children are wanted in any society for various reasons, psycho, socio, economic and to fulfill various other cultural rituals. But in agricultural society, where children start helping their parent from very early age, children are expected to be mainly desired for economics reasons. The perception about children’ importance in their family/society reflected in their fertility and family planning uses. The current study was conducted in one of most agricultural dominated district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. About 1000 currently married women (15-44) and having atleast one surviving children, were interviewed about their perception about values of children and tried to analyses the association of their perception with their fertility outcomes and contraception uses.