Open AccessSafe Motherhood in South Asia: Current Status and Strategies for Change
Author(s) -
Zeba A. Sathar,
Bilquees Raza
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
pakistan development review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.154
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 0030-9729
DOI - 10.30541/v33i4iipp.1123-1140
Subject(s) - fertility , total fertility rate , population , demography , population growth , latin americans , geography , developing country , east asia , birth rate , sub replacement fertility , south asia , family planning , socioeconomics , china , economic growth , political science , economics , sociology , research methodology , ethnology , archaeology , law
Women in South Asia comprise close to one third of the world'sfemale population. Not only is South Asia an extremely populous regionbut population growth rates have been much higher than averages forother developing countries. The implications of high population growthrates are quite direct and severe for women, as they are the result ofhigh levels of fertility which have prevailed for some time in thisregion. The stable and high levels of fertility along with fallingmortality have led to a youthful population structure where about 45percent of the population is aged under 15. Since childbearing as wellas childrearing are almost the sole responsibility of women, thesefigures reflect the burden of high fertility amongst South Asian women.An average South Asian woman marries at a fairly young age, (even thoughthe region is exhibiting a distinct trend of rising age at marriage forfemales) and starts bearing children soon after. Though fertility rateshave been declining in most of India and Bangladesh while they hadalready reached quite low levels in Sri Lanka, other countries of theregion (mainly Nepal and Pakistan) have still to experience any dramaticdeclines in fertility. In contrast with trends in the Latin American andSouth East Asian region, increases in contraceptive use in South Asiahave not played as substantive a role in fertility declines as changingmarriage patterns, atleast so far. See Table 1 for recent figures onfertility and contraceptive use among females of this region.