Reproductive autonomy and the experience of later-than-desired pregnancy: results from a cross-sectional survey of reproductive-aged women in Uganda

Bell, Suzanne O.; Makumbi, Fredrick; Sarria, Isabella; Kibira, Simon P. S.; Zimmerman, Linnea A.

doi:10.1186/s12978-024-01750-z

Reproductive Health

Table 1 Characteristics of women aged 15–49 in Uganda who are currently pregnant or have ever given birth, overall and by desired pregnancy timing and background characteristics, 2021

From: Reproductive autonomy and the experience of later-than-desired pregnancy: results from a cross-sectional survey of reproductive-aged women in Uganda

Characteristic	Total		Desired pregnancy timing
	Total		Later-than-desired		Desired time		Earlier-than-desired		Undesired
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Age
15–19	241	7.6	52	6.5	49	5.1	105	11.2	35	6.8
20–29	1309	39.6	349	43.2	402	39.0	455	43.1	103	25.5
30–39	1116	34.2	295	34.5	359	35.4	326	34.0	136	31.6
40–49	645	18.7	145	15.8	215	20.6	132	11.6	153	36.1
Education
Never	219	5.0	57	3.4	89	6.6	42	4.0	31	7.2
Primary	2012	57.6	452	49.2	604	58.6	671	61.6	285	64.1
Secondary	857	28.8	250	33.7	262	26.4	249	27.8	96	25.4
Higher	222	8.6	82	13.7	69	8.4	56	6.6	15	3.2
Marital status
Currently married/cohabiting	2475	75.3	678	80.3	771	75.9	735	73.7	291	67.5
Divorced or separated/widowed	678	19.5	148	17.5	228	21.5	202	17.3	100	24.2
Never married	157	5.2	15	2.3	25	2.6	81	9.0	36	8.3
Wealth tertile
Poorest	1278	33.2	288	24.5	373	34.6	441	39.0	176	35.3
Middle wealthiest	1155	34.1	291	34.3	359	32.9	342	32.6	163	39.2
Wealthiest	878	32.7	262	41.2	293	32.4	235	28.3	88	25.5
Residence
Rural	2212	71.2	484	65.7	700	71.5	710	73.8	318	76.4
Urban	1099	28.8	357	34.3	325	28.5	308	26.2	109	23.6
Parity
0	89	2.9	37	5.0	21	2.0	25	2.4	6	1.5
1	696	21.7	174	23.4	199	19.3	238	23.8	85	18.5
2–4	1381	42.0	396	47.0	488	48.5	414	41.2	83	20.5
5+	1145	33.4	234	24.7	317	30.1	341	32.6	253	59.6
Desire for a/another child
Undecided/do not know	101	3.2	23	3.6	24	2.4	36	3.2	18	4.2
Have a/another child	2106	63.7	602	72.3	676	66.0	680	66.9	148	34.5
No more	1043	31.5	197	22.1	308	30.4	288	28.9	250	58.9
Says can’t get pregnant	51	1.5	16	2.0	14	1.1	10	1.0	11	2.4
Emotional response to pregnancy (among currently pregnant)
Very happy	148	42.1	84	70.8	59	62.0	5	2.8	0	0.0
Sort of happy	59	16.7	19	18.1	14	13.5	24	20.0	2	7.7
Mixed happy and unhappy	36	8.3	4	2.7	8	8.0	22	16.0	2	6.4
Sort of unhappy	47	11.5	1	0.8	7	6.8	34	28.2	5	12.2
Very unhappy	94	21.4	14	7.6	8	9.6	46	33.0	26	73.7
General health
Very good	618	17.2	158	16.0	234	23.5	171	15.1	55	11.8
Good	1560	48.1	397	51.9	496	46.2	487	48.7	180	43.0
Moderate	898	28.0	235	26.7	226	24.0	291	30.0	146	34.8
Bad	207	5.6	41	4.2	62	5.6	64	5.4	40	8.9
Very bad	28	1.0	10	1.3	7	0.6	5	0.9	6	1.5
Ever sought care for difficulties getting pregnant
No	3108	94.2	759	90.9	971	95.3	968	95.2	410	96.7
Yes	194	5.8	82	9.1	50	4.7	47	4.8	15	3.3
Correct knowledge of fertile window
No	2662	81.2	682	82.8	817	79.3	818	80.8	345	82.9
Yes	649	18.8	159	17.2	208	20.7	200	19.2	82	17.1
Total	3311	100.0	841	100.0	1025	100.0	1018	100.0	427	100.0

Bolding indicates statistically significantly different at the p < 0.05 level from design-based F-test, italics indicate significant at p < 0.10 level; percentages are weighted, Ns are unweighted

Back to article page

ISSN: 1742-4755

Contact us

General enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com