IMPACT OF WOMEN'S STATUS ON FERTILITY IN THE KINGDOM OF BHUTAN

Abstract

Background: Women’s status plays a very important role in the country of demographic transitions like Bhutan and to a large extent affect their fertility behaviors. In view of these considerations, the present study seeks to identify the possible impact of women’s status on marital fertility behavior in Bhutan and endeavors to find out whether the fertility behavior of women in Bhutan has been determined by their status. Methods: The data used in this study is the secondary data from Bhutan Multiple Indicator Survey carried out by the National Statistical Bureau in 2010. The total sample identified was 16,823. Of these, the analysis was confirmed to ever-married women of 14,018 in reproductive aged (15-49) years. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses have been executed to explain the significant associations in the study. Results: The study revealed that the mean value of CEB among married Bhutanese women of reproductive age was 2.58 children. The findings also revealed that the probability of the model chi-square (7.0803) was 0.000, less than the level of significance at 0.05. Suggesting an existence of statistically significant associations between the explanatory variables and dependent variable. Conclusion: It can be concluded that program implementers should aim to augment and improve the women’s status by focusing on these identified factors. It is therefore important that future efforts to manage and bring in a balance growth in population should, focus on the various dynamics that strongly determine the status of women and its empowerment in the country.