Determinants of High Fertility Rate among Married Women in Ethiopia

Background: Fertility is one the major components of changing the population size and structure over time. Hence, this study aims to identify the socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with the high fertility rate among married women in Ethiopia Method: Ethiopian demography and health survey of 2016 data were accessed and used for the analysis. A total of 9602 married women were included in the study. Poisson regression models were employed by considering the number of children ever born (count) as a response variable. Results: A total of 9602 married women were included and 907 (9.4%) of the mothers have not born a child in their life time and only 307 (3.2%) of them have born more than 9 children. Rich women (IRR =0.794; 95%CI: 0.685, 0.920, secondary and above education of women (IRR =0.602; 95%CI: 0.570, 0.635), secondary and above education level of husbands’ (IRR =0.917; 95%CI: 0.880, 0.955) and late marriage (IRR =0.853; 95%CI: 0.832, 0.873) were found significantly associated with low level of fertility rate. Small family size (IRR =2.23.; 95%CI: 2.168, 2.294) and being child death experience (IRR =1.636; 95%CI: 1.601, 1.672) were also showed statistically significant association with high level of fertility rate. Conclusion: The government should focus on providing better access to education, increasing the coverage of family planning service and improving sources of income. Furthermore, the society should be made aware on consequences of high fertility on the child and maternal health, household economy, human capital investment and environmental degradation.