Malawi Fertility Intentions and Contraceptive Use Among Women with Children, 2015-2016

15,866 married or in-union women aged 15–49 with at least one living child were analyzed from the 2015–16 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey. Redson Mwandama published this cross-sectional analysis on figshare in April 2026, examining the gap between fertility-limiting intentions and contraceptive behavior.

Use Cases

• Modeling fertility preferences based on age, parity, and religion as described in the results.
• Analyzing factors associated with modern contraceptive use among women with limiting demand, such as education, employment, and region.
• Investigating reasons for contraceptive discontinuation, with side effects cited as a leading cause.
• Comparing contraceptive behavior between Muslim and non-Muslim women as indicated by the study findings.

Strengths

• Analysis includes a substantial sample of 15,866 women.
• Results provide specific percentages, such as 49.8% wanting no more children and 72.4% using modern contraception among women with limiting demand.
• Data is sourced from a nationally representative Demographic and Health Survey.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for the primary dataset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is cross-sectional from 2015-2016; temporal trends cannot be analyzed.

Provenance

Source

2015–16 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey.

Collection Method

Cross-sectional survey data analyzed with multinomial logistic regression models.

Time Range

2015-2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-22 05:48:09; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Malawi