PREFERRED BIRTH INTERVAL AMONG THE MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Birth spacing is one of the major aspects of reproductive health which may contribute to the reduction or increase or decrease in maternal related issues. Several research conducted on birth spacing has shown that close birth interval has many implications on mothers, children and entire family. It was noticed that adequate attention have not be given to preferred birth intervals among major ethnic groups in Nigeria, thus, not giving adequate and enough facts on the cause of a particular preferred birth interval. Therefore, this study assessed the preferred birth interval between individual characteristics of women ages 15 to 49. This study used the quantitative method for data analysis. The data was extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health survey data set (individual recode), the weighted sample size was 27274 women. The univariate result showed that the majority of the individuals spaced their birth for at least 2 years. At the bivariate level, it was revealed that there was a significant relationship between preferred birth interval and ethnicity which also extend to women characteristics, except number of living children and Occupation. It also revealed that the Yoruba ethnic group space their birth for at least 2 years than any other ethnic group. The multivariate result reveled that many characteristics of women such as age religion, religion amongst others were significantly associated with their preferred birth interval. Also, it was seen that Yoruba and Igbo are more likely to space their birth for two years compared to the Hausa/Fulani’s. In conclusion, birth interval varies among major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Therefore, there is need for government advocacy on birth spacing among ethnic groups. I recommend that further research should be carried out on causes of birth spacing variation in Nigeria.