Presentation of the principal results of the National Fertility Survey (revised edition)
Mirasano, C.
Imbonezamuryango 1(4): 5-18
1985
PMID: 12267473 Document Number: 499692
Marriage in Rwanda is almost universal and nearly all births occur within the marital relationship. The average age of marriage is about 20 years. Marital breakup is relatively rare. In 4 out of 5 cases, husbands are older than their wives. By the end of a woman's reproductive years, she would have had about 8.5 children. This figure varies depending on the age of marriage. The number of live births per woman decrease with increased years of schooling. Women entering professions have fewer children than those who work in agriculture. Fertility levels are higher in rural than urban areas. Little differences in the infant mortality rate depend on the sex of the child. Factors affecting the infant mortality rate include the age of the mother at the time of the child's birth, parity, birth-spacing, marital status of the mother and the quality of sanitary conditions. Little over 1/5 of the women had delivered in a maternity. At the time of the survey, 20% of the females involved in a relationship, did not want children. This desire was associated with the number of children already in the family. On average, women desired a total of 6.3 children. Knowledge of traditional birth control methods was limited, while knowledge of modern methods existed in 66.6% of the women. 11% of fertile, sexually active women utilized a contraceptive method. Factors affecting fecundity include age at menarche, age at menopause, relationship break-ups, sexual abstinence after a birth and the duration of lactation. The more educated women are more aware of the rapid growth of the population. To effect a change, it is necessary to increase family planning programs and provide educational campaigns to make people aware of the problem and the need for population control.