Prevalence and predictors of premarital sexual intercourse among young women in sub-Saharan Africa

Table 2 Distribution of premarital sexual intercourse among young women in sub-Saharan Africa across the explanatory variables (n = 87,924)

Variables	Frequency	Percentage	Premarital sexual intercourse	P-value
Age				< 0.001
15–19	62,329	70.9	29.0
20–24	25,595	29.1	64.6
Level of education				< 0.001
No formal education	9648	11.0	28.6
Primary	25,576	29.1	33.0
Secondary/higher	52,700	59.9	44.4
Religion				< 0.001
Christianity	61,719	70.2	44.4
Islam	24,255	27.6	25.8
Traditional	692	0.8	30.9
No religion	1258	1.4	56.7
Employment status				< 0.001
Not working	49,005	55.7	35.7
Working	38,919	44.3	44.0
Wealth index				< 0.001
Poorest	10,756	12.2	36.2
Poorer	13,520	15.4	37.2
Middle	16,244	18.5	40.0
Richer	20,020	22.8	41.2
Richest	27,384	31.1	39.9
Frequency of reading newspaper or magazine				< 0.001
Not at all	61,699	70.2	37.9
Less than once a week	13,766	15.7	40.2
At least once a week	11,539	13.1	44.4
Almost every day	920	1.0	58.1
Frequency of listening to radio				< 0.001
Not at all	35,100	39.9	38.2
Less than once a week	18,424	21.0	38.7
At least once a week	31,582	35.9	39.2
Almost every day	2818	3.2	59.0
Frequency of watching television				< 0.001
Not at all	39,641	45.2	35.7
Less than once a week	13,054	14.8	39.2
At least once a week	27,993	31.8	39.4
Almost every day	7235	8.2	59.6
Place of residence				< 0.001
Urban	43,434	49.4	45.2
Rural	44,490	50.6	33.7
Sub-region				< 0.001
West Africa	31,665	36.0	38.1
East Africa	37,874	43.1	32.9
Central Africa	15,169	17.2	53.1
Southern Africa	3216	3.7	63.6

ISSN: 1742-4755