Previous Marriage Outcomes and Fertility Intentions among Re-Married Women in Nigeria

Olugbenga Olaseinde , Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko
Olufunke Aruna, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko

Compared to the developed countries and a handful of developing nations, Nigeria remains in high fertility regime despite all socio-demographic and economic efforts to achieve fertility decline. With increasing rate of re-marriage, women’s decision to stick to their intended fertility may be influenced by the dictate of men who demand additional child to consummate the new union. This study examined the influence of previous marriage outcome on fertility preference of women by analysing 2013 NDHS weighted sample data of 2,671 women, who reported to have re-married. The analysis was performed using Stata 15 by employing Chi-square test and Multi-nomial Logistic Regression Model. The result indicates that, apart from previous marriage outcome, ideal number of children, wealth status, and ethnicity are significant predictors of re-married women’s fertility preference. Women who lost their husband in their previous marriage were more likely to desire no more children than other categories of women. The study recommends that women should be empowered and enlightenment campaign should be intensified to protect the rights of widowed women in order to be able to make informed choices about their marital status after the death of husbands, also, to increase their sexual bargaining power in later remarried union.

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 Presented in Session P1. Poster Session Fertility, Family and the Life Course