Sterilization on the rise in Britain
Inserra, P.
International Demographics 5(3): 7
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0731-5414 PMID: 12340611 Document Number: 343560
According to the British 1983 Report of the General Household Survey (GHS), the 1st such survey to seek data on contraception, 3/4 of British women 18-44 years of age used some form of contraception in 1983. Oral contraceptives were the method of choice of 28% of respondents, although use of this method declines with age (only 4% among women 40-44 years of age). 22% of respondents either had been sterilized or were living with a sterilized partner. The percentage of married or formerly married women ages 16-39 years who were sterilized or had a sterilized partner rose from 4% in 1970 to 24% in 1983. The survey further found that 35% of women cohabitated before marriage. Another GHS finding shows decreased family size. Family size/household declined from 2.91 in 1971 to 2.64 in 1982. Over the same period, persons living alone increased from 6 to 23% of the total population, and single-parent families increased from 5% to 13% of the total.