Stalled Decline in Fertility in Ecuador

• Published in: International family planning perspectives Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 203 - 206
• Main Authors: Ishida, Kanako, Stupp, Paul, Sotomayor, Jose Ordoñez
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Guttmacher Institute 01.12.2009
• Subjects: Birth control; Birth Rate - trends; Births; Comment; Confidence intervals; Contraception Behavior - trends; Economic aspects; Ecuador - epidemiology; Education; Educational attainment; Family planning; Family Planning Services - trends; Female; Female fertility; Fertility; Fertility rates; Fertility, Human; Geographic regions; Health aspects; Humans; Industrialized nations; Infant, Newborn; Mortality; Population Dynamics; Rural areas; School surveys; Sensitivity analysis; Social Change; Social Values; Socioeconomic Factors; Statistics; Studies; Women; Womens education; Ecuador
• ISSN: 1944-0391; 1944-0405; 1944-0405
• DOI: 10.1363/3520309

The fertility level stabilized at 4.0 births for women with six years of schooling, at 3.0 births for those with 7-11 years of schooling and at 2.4 births for those with 12 or more years of schooling. [...] the fertility gap between women with the lowest and the highest levels of educational attainment narrowed in the 2004 survey. [...] the lack of change in the level of unwanted births and the desired number of children across the same period is consistent with the stalled decline in fertility, and the increased use of contraceptives likely indicates that women are focusing on the timing of their births, albeit with limited success.