Papua New Guinea
Some Findings of the 1996 Demographic and Health Survey
Key findings
The Papua New Guinea National Statistical Office conducted a Demographic
and Health Survey (DHS) in 1996-1997. One of the main objectives of the DHS was to provide
reliable data to evaluate population, health and family planning progra-mmes in PNG.
The DHS individual questionnaire was administered
to women aged 15-49 years old. A total of 4,319 house-holds were successfully interviewed
resulting in 5,550 women of that age group being eligible. In all, successful interviews
were conducted with 4,917 women in the age group 15-49 representing 89 percent of eligible
women.
Some findings of this important survey are
presented in Table 1 below:
Table 1: Selected Key Findings from the DHS 1996/97
| Key indicators |
Values |
| (1) Literacy rate
among all women (15-49 years) |
56.1 % |
| (2) Awareness of
modern methods of contraception , all women |
67.7% |
| (3) Contraceptive
Prevalence rate , all methods(all women) |
19.8% |
| (4) Average Desired
Family Size, all women |
3.5 |
| (5) Unmet need for
family planning (married women) |
45.9 % |
| (6) Total Fertility
Rate (5 years preceding the survey, i.e. 1991/92) |
4.8 |
| (7) Infant
Mortality Rate ( 10 years preceding the survey, i.e. 1986/1987) |
77 |
| (8) Under 5
Mortality Rate (10 years preceding the survey, i.e. 1986/1987) |
100 |
| (9) Maternal
Mortality Ratio per 100,000 live births ( 12/13 years preceding the survey, i.e. 1984) |
370 |
| (10) Mothers
receiving coverage of Tetanus Toxoid vaccination during pregnancy |
68.8% |
| (11) Mothers
receiving professional ante-natal care |
77.5% |
| (12) Babies
delivered with professional attention |
53.2 % |
| (13) Children 12-23
months old fully vaccinated |
38.7 % |
Source: Papua
New Guinea DHS 1996, National Report
Current Fertility
The pattern of fertility shows a broad peak for the
age-specific fertility rates in the age range 20-29 years (See Fig 1 and Table 2). An
examination of the age specific fertility rates indicates that fertility is generally
lower for the urban area except for women under 20 years of age. The total fertility rates
were 4.0 and 5.0 for urban and rural respectively. The paradoxical effect of education on
fertility is reported in the study. On the one hand, women with no education had a TFR of
4.97 compared with 3.85 for those with grade seven and above. On the other, those with
grade six had higher TFR than their counterparts with grades 1-5 (See Table 3). According
to the DHS, there is an indication of decline in fertility of about half a child over the
last two decades.
Desired Family Size and Family Planning
There is evidence of pronounced unwanted or mis-timed
pregnancies and births from the results of the survey. Women’s desired family size
(3.5) was about 1.3 children less than the total fertility rate (4.84) indicated by the
survey. In addition, the fact that the report showed that children ever born (CEB) to
women aged 40-49 years was on the average 0.6 of a child greater than the total fertility
rate (4.84) is another indication of unwanted pregnancy (See Fig 2).
Table 2: Age Specific and Cumulative Fertility Rates, DHS 1996/97
Age Group |
Residence |
Urban |
Rural |
Total |
15-19 |
91 |
73 |
77 |
20-24 |
207 |
235 |
229 |
25-29 |
209 |
240 |
234 |
30-34 |
176 |
192 |
189 |
35-39 |
86 |
131 |
122 |
40-44 |
22 |
94 |
82 |
45-49 |
9 |
38 |
35 |
| TFR 15-49 |
4.00 |
5.02 |
4.84 |
| TFR 15-44 |
3.95 |
4.83 |
4.67 |
GFR |
147 |
171 |
166 |
CBR |
33.60 |
33.90 |
33.90 |
Source: Papua New Guinea DHS 1996,
National Report, Page 34.
The report
also shows that a significant proportion of women desire to limit their family size. As
noted, the average desired family size for all women was 3.5 children. Regardless of
family size, not less than 37% of married women want no more children by the time they are
35 years old. The report further indicated that more than half of all married women aged
40 years stated that they don’t want any more children.
Table 3: Fertility
By Background Characteristics, DHS 1996/97
| Background Characteristics |
TFR |
Mean No of CEB age 40-49 |
| Place of Residence |
|
|
| Urban |
4.00 |
4.65 |
| Rural |
5.02 |
5.54 |
| Level of Education |
|
|
| No education |
4.97 |
5.40 |
| Grade 1-5 |
4.74 |
5.77 |
| Grade 6 |
5.10 |
5.46 |
| Grade 7 + |
3.85 |
4.54 |
| Total |
4.84 |
5.40 |
Source: Papua New Guinea DHS 1996,
National Report, Page 35.
A rural township in PNG highlands. Total fertility rate
in rural areas is in excess of 5.0 |
However, in
spite of the fact that about 67 % of the women are aware of modern contraceptives, only
about 20 % use any method of contraception. The survey also documented the unmet need for
family planning by married women to be about 46 %.
Contributed by Mr. Nasiru Ibrahim, UNV Health Statistician, UNFPA, Suva
 Top of page
|
Y6B: World Population Hits 6
Billion!