Why Unmet Need for Family Planning Remains High in Bangladesh: A Community Level Analysis

Background: Improving Reproductive health (RH) is widely recognized as a key component of social and economic development. Interaction of different factors such as individual, household and community level covariates plays an important role in determining the level of unmet need for family planning. Objectives: The objective of the study is to examine the association between individual, household and community level covariates with the level of unmet need for family planning in Bangladesh. Methodology: For the core, analysis data has been extracted from Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS), 2011. Multilevel regression analyses have been employed to explore the relative effects of community, household level and individual level factors on unmet need for family planning among currently married women. Results: Results shows that unmet need for contraception marginally declined from 16.8% in 2007 to 13.5% in 2011. Surprisingly the impact of education and wealth index is marginal in determining the level of unmet need. On the other hand, three community level variables (% women exposed to family planning, % women with ideal number of children and % women with primary and higher education) significantly associated with the level of unmet need for family planning in Bangladesh. Conclusion: Since unmet needs for family planning has multiple advantages for both the individual and society, it is necessary for the governments to come up with strategies, which can reduce unmet needs.