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Stagnancy in the Unmet Need for Family Planning in India
Authors: Purushottam M Kulkarni
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, 55(6)
Topic(s): Family planning
Unmet need
Country: Asia
  India
Published: FEB 2020
Abstract: Though addressing the unmet need for contraception was one of the immediate objectives of India’s National Population Policy 2000, the available evidence shows that there has been stagnancy in the level of the unmet need for family planning for quite some time. Data from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey carried out during 2015–16 show that about 13% of couples of reproductive ages wanted to stop childbearing or delay the next birth but did not get the contraceptive services they desired to have. Trends in the level and nature of the unmet need for contraception, whether for spacing or limiting, are examined here on the basis of the data from the series of NFHS rounds. Further, socio-economic and regional differentials in the unmet need have been assessed. It is seen that while socio-economic differentials in the unmet need exist but are not large, there are notable interstate differences, and some states have a high unmet need. Besides, the unmet need has risen in a few states in the recent years. The paper also provides estimates of implications of the unmet need in terms of unwanted births and fertility.
Web: https://www.epw.in/journal/2020/6/national-family-health-survey-4/stagnancy-unmet-need-family-planning-india.html