Nepal experiences big drop in fertility

Fertility in Nepal has dropped by one child over the past five years, according to the newly released 2006 Demographic and Health Survey. Currently, women have an average 3.1 births during their lifetimes. This represents a significant decline in fertility since 2001 when women where having an average of 4.1 births. This decline is due in part to the continued increase in the use of family planning. About 44 per cent of currently married women are now using a modern method of family planning. Use of modern methods has increased dramatically in the past ten years from 26 per cent in 1996 and from 35 per cent in 2001. The most popular methods are female sterilization and injectables(18 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively), although the use of modern methods varies greatly by region of residence.

Child survival has also improved significantly in the past five years. Infant and under-five mortality rates have dropped more than 25 per cent since 2001. The 2006 infant mortality rate is 48 deaths per 1,000 live births, while the under-five rate is 61 deaths per 1,000 live births. Although children’s survival has improved, Nepalese children continue to face nutritional challenges.

Women’s health indicators are not improving at the same dramatic rate as children’s. Less than half of pregnant women received antenatal care from a skilled birth attendant in the five years before the survey, and fewer than one in five births was delivered with the assistance of a skilled birth attendant. While these rates do mark a slight improvement over the rates reported in 2001, they are still too slow to prevent and treat many pregnancy and delivery-related health problems.

The Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, available at www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pub_details.cfm?ID=669 included interviews with over 10,000 women aged 15-49 and 4,000 men aged 15-59 in all regions of Nepal. The survey was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal.
(Source: Demographic and Health Surveys, New Publication Alert, 29 May)