Ayesha Arif, Arif Tajammul.
Limiting family size: the difference between wanting and achieving.
Pak Paed J Jan ;20(1):1-5.

Large individual families are the cause of high growth rate in the third world. It is always thought that women are ignorant of the benefits of a smaller family and voluntarily have more children. This study was formulated to ascertain women`s desired family size and to compare this to their actual family size. Six hundred and twenty five married women between the ages of eighteen and sixty six years are interviewed. The mean parity (actual) was lower in educated women and the difference was statistically significant (p 0.001). There was a negative correlation between the monthly family income and actual parity. In all groups the desired parity was lower than actual parity. The difference was maximum in women with primary education (actual mean parity 6.3 +/- 2.23 compared to desired mean parity of 3.4 +/- 0.87). Majority (92.77%) of women wanted their first child to be male and 83.52% wanted less than three sons. This study demonstrates desire of majority of women to have fewer children than they already have and their failure to achieve this.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com