Determinant of Desire for an Additional Child: A Measure of Sex Preference

Bangladesh has achieved a remarkable success in controlling population growth without much change in socioeconomic conditions but yet to reach at the replacement level fertility. In this study an attempt has been made to examine the effects of selected socio-cultural characteristics on desire for additional children among couples in Bangladesh using the data of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007. Descriptive statistics has been used to describe the distribution for background characteristics of the couples. Multiple logistic regression model has been employed to study the impact of several covariates on desire for additional children. The findings reveal that gender composition of existing children; number of living children, religion, place of residence, working status has significant effect to determine the fertility intention of the couples. The desire for additional children is highest when respondents have only one child may be because of the encouragement of two-child family norm in Bangladesh. Women who have two or more daughters but no son desire more additional children than women who have two or more sons but no daughter indicating strong son preference still exists among couples in Bangladesh. The findings also reveal that the desire for additional children is greater among Muslim women, women who live in rural area and who are not currently working.