Unmet Need For Family Planning And Fertility In Nepal

Population explosion during the last forty years is a world wide phenomena and has assumed staggering dimensions in developing countries leading to launching of family planning programmes and also attracted attention of social scientists to study the problem of rapid population growth in relation to economic and social problems. The present book, by Dr. J.M. Tuladhar is a pioneering well researched work of an expert associated withthe discipline of Family Planning during the last two decades with United Nations and United States Agency for International Development Sponsored programmes in Nepal and contains discussion on the repreductive behaviour of Nepalese women and in particular examines marraige and contraceptive use patterns. The author's innovative framework has adequetely identified the factors responsible for sustained high fertility in Nepal. In conclusion, the author has suggested raising age of marriage, a strong family planning programme and an envrionment for Nepalese women to work outside the home to ensure decline in fertility level.

This booklet is based on the Estimates and Projections of Family Planning Indicators 2019, which includes estimates at the global, regional and country level of contraceptive prevalence, unmet need for family planning and SDG indicator 3.7.1 "Proportion of women who have their need for family planning satisfied by modern methods".

Family planning programs have been highly successful over the past 30 years in providing women in developing countries with desired access to contraceptive services and helping to reduce fertility rates. Notwithstanding this success, there is still an urgent need for these programs. The world's population is increasing, with annual population growth still approximately 80 million people. Nearly all of this growth is occurring in developing nations, where fertility rates remain relatively high. This high fertility runs counter to the preferences expressed by millions of women, who actually want to have smaller families. Family planning programs are also desirable because they are associated with a range of other benefits, most notably improvements in women's and children's health. Host countries provide about 60 to 75 percent of funding for family planning. However, funding and technical assistance from donor nations, especially the United States, have been crucial to the past success of family planning programs and are equally important for strengthening and expanding program efforts to meet future challenges.