INDIVIDUAL AND SHARED BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCING COUPLES USE OF CONTRACEPTIVES IN NIGERIA

 

Olawole-Isaac, A¹*, Oni Gbolahan A.², Oladosun Muyiwa³, Amoo Emmanuel.O.⁴ & Adekola, Paul O.⁵

¹Ms., Demography & Social Statistics Program, Department of Economics & Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria, adebanke.olawole-isaac@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

²Professor, Demography & Social Statistics Program, Department of Economics & Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria, gbolahan.oni@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

³Dr., Demography & Social Statistics Program, Department of Economics & Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria, muyiwa.oladosu@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

⁴Dr., Demography & Social Statistics Program, Department of Economics & Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria, emmanuel.amoo@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

⁵Mr., Demography & Social Statistics Program, Department of Economics & Development Studies, Covenant University, Nigeria, paul.adekola@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

*Corresponding author

 

Abstract

Africa in particular Nigeria has remained one of most populous country in the world. The report of 2016 population reference bureau ranked Nigeria as the 7th most populous country and projected that by 2050 Nigeria will be the 4^th populous country in the world. Nigeria with a population of over 180 million, and a total fertility rate (TFR) estimated at 5.5 with contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) of 15%. Although several measures have been implemented to enhance the adoption of contraceptives in Nigeria but it has not yielded the expected result because Nigeria is yet to achieve a demographic dividend and its low utilization of any method of contraceptive is one of the key indicators of high fertility in Nigeria. Therefore this paper examines the individual and shared background factors influencing contraceptive use among couples in Nigeria using 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey Couples’ Dataset. The study shows that the explained variance (Nagelkerke R²) was 20.9% when only married women’s variables were considered in Model I, it was 13.1% when only men’s variables were included (Model I), 21.4% when shared variables were employed (Model II), and explained variance increased to 27.1% in the full model which added individual and shared explanatory factors (Model III). Findings suggest that the effects of married men’s individual factors were not significant in the full model except education, which implied that women’s individual background factors and couples shared background characteristics were more significant (P<0.000) in explaining contraceptive use in Nigeria. These findings suggest that policies and programs that will empower women to make decision among the sub-groups will go a long way to improve contraceptive use. We recommend that increase in women individual background characteristics (education, occupation e.t.c)  and couples shared characteristics (wealth, place of residence e.t.c) will increase the adoption of contraception and reduce the increasing population growth in Nigeria.