Family planning program: a study on the recorded clients of rural Bangladesh.

Studies the impact of family planning in 5 villages which have had access to contraception since 1961. Data were collected from interviews with 342 of the 459 women recorded as ever using contraception and from official records. 39% of the 342 respondents adopted birth control under 25 years of age; and their average number ochildren 2.48 was lower than that of later adopters. The average age of women adopting birth control during the 1960s was 28.94 years which declined to 26.66 during the 1970s. The average number of children at time of first use declined from 3.93 during the 1960s to 3.56 during the 1970s. The average number of children of women who at any time between 1961 and 1978 had used birth control was still 5 in 1978 indicating that the success of the family planning program in promoting the 2-child family has been limited. The age of adoption of birth control by the 80% of the women who were illiterate was 1.55 years higher than that of the literate women and illiterate women had 0.61 children more on the average than their literate sisters. The influence of the husbands occupation was found to be inconsistent. Average number of living children in a family was positively related to the amount of land held by the family. Average number of children at 1st use of birth control and in December 1979 was found to be negatively related to age at marriage. Age at marriage increased only slightly in the past 2 decades.