Ideal Number of Children

 

Percent distribution by ideal number of children

 

Definition

 

Percentage of women and men who declare, that if they could go back to the time when they did not have any children and could choose exactly the number of children to have in their whole life, a specific number of children.

 

Coverage:

Population base: All women or men (IR file, MR file)

Time period: Current status at time of survey

 

Numerators: Number of women (or men) who state that their ideal number of children is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more, or give a non-numeric response (women: v613 = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-90, 96-99, respectively; men: mv613 = 0,1,2,3,4,5,6-90, 96-99)

 

Denominator: All women (or men) age 15-49

 

Variables: IR file, MR file.

v613

Desire for more children (women)

v005

Woman’s individual sample weight

mv613

Desire for more children (men)

mv005

Man’s individual sample weight

 

Calculation

 

Numerators are divided by the denominator and multiplied by 100.

 

Handling of Missing Values

 

Missing information on ideal number of children is considered as a non-numeric response and is included in that category of numerator and is in the denominator for all categories.

 

Notes and Considerations

 

The ideal number of children is defined as the number of children that a woman or man would have if they could go back to the time when they did not have any children and could choose exactly the number of children to have in their whole life. The ideal number of children reported has been shown to be affected by the actual number of living children and so the ideal number of children is typically presented by number of living children. The number of living children presented in DHS tables also includes any current pregnancy in the count of living children.

 

Resources

 

DHS-8 Tabulation plan: Table 6.3

 

API Indicator IDs:

Women:

PR_IDLC_W_ID0, PR_IDLC_W_ID1, PR_IDLC_W_ID2, PR_IDLC_W_ID3, PR_IDLC_W_ID4, PR_IDLC_W_ID5, PR_IDLC_W_ID6, PR_IDLC_W_IDN

 

Men:

PR_IDLC_M_ID0, PR_IDLC_M_ID1, PR_IDLC_M_ID2, PR_IDLC_M_ID3, PR_IDLC_M_ID4, PR_IDLC_M_ID5, PR_IDLC_M_ID6, PR_IDLC_M_IDN 

(API link, STATcompiler link)


 

Mean ideal number of children

 

Definition

 

Mean ideal number of children for all women and men or for currently married or in union women or men.

 

Coverage:

Population base: All women (or men) or currently married or in union women (or men) (IR file,

MR file)

Time period: Current status at time of survey

 

Numerator: Sum of the ideal number of children (women: v613; men: mv613), excluding non-numeric responses to the ideal number of children (women: v613 <= 90; men: mv613 <= 90)

 

Denominator:

a)       Number of women (or men) age 15-49

b)      Currently married women (v502 = 1) or men (mv502 = 1)

 

Variables: IR file, MR file.

v613

Ideal number of children (women)

v005

Woman’s individual sample weight

mv613

Ideal number of children (men)

mv005

Man’s individual sample weight

 

Calculation

 

Numerator is divided by the denominator.

 

Handling of Missing Values

 

Missing information on ideal number of children is excluded from both the numerator and denominator.

 

Notes and Considerations

 

The ideal number of children is defined as the number of children that a woman or man would have if they could go back to the time when they did not have any children and could choose exactly the number of children to have in their whole life. The ideal number of children reported has been shown to be affected by the actual number of living children and so the ideal number of children is typically presented by number of living children. The number of living children presented in DHS tables also includes any current pregnancy in the count of living children.

 

Resources

 

DHS-8 Tabulation plan: Tables 6.3 and 6.4

 

API Indicator IDs:

Women:

PR_IDLC_W_MNA, PR_MIDL_W_MNA, PR_IDLC_W_MNM

 

Men:

PR_IDLC_M_MNA, PR_IDLC_M_MNM, PR_IDLC_M_M5A 

(API link, STATcompiler link)