Study of Marriage Pattern and Its Implications on Fertility in Bangladesh

Abstract

Recent studies on marriage patterns in Bangladesh have revealed a clear trend towards decreasing proportions of married women and an increase in age at first marriage. Despite marriage being one of the most important proximate determinants of fertility, the role of these nuptiality changes on the country's decreasing fertility levels has not been adequately explored. Using data from the 2004 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, this paper fills this research gap by examining the pattern of marriage and impact on fertility in Bangladesh. Adolescents, their parents and the community should be more aware of the negative consequences of early marriage, early pregnancy and large family size. In Bangladesh there has long been strong social pressure for the preservation of virginity until marriage. This is one of the cultural characteristics of the great majority of people in the country irrespective of their religion. Sex out side marriage occurs only seldom, since pre-marital sex is looked down upon harshly in Bangladeshi society (Maloney and others, 1981 ). Among females almost 95 percent of marriage takes place before the end of their second decade of life. This densely populated country of 136.7 million people (SVRS, 2004) is also characterized by a high population growth rate (1.42 percent annually: BBS, 2004), high nuptiality and low age at marriage (N Islam, 1989). There has been a clear rising trend towards higher age at marriage over time (Islam and Islam, 1993). The study covers a period of nearly 32 years from 197 5 to 2007. The trends in the marriage pattern as well as in the levels of fertility are examined for this period of study. Attempts are made to find the correlated components of marriage and fertility responsible for giving rise to such tends as are observed during the course of analysis. The results show that marriage patterns have been changing over time. Analysis of age patterns of marriage by means of Coale's model nuptiality schedule has yielded some interesting results. It has been found that marriage still remains a universal phenomenon in Bangladesh. Early marriage prevails in the population and that marriage not only start early but progresses fast and are concentrated within a short span of time at least in the female population. This study confirms that marriage is almost universal among females in Bangladesh there are very few women who remain single throughout their lives. As in various other developing agricultural societies, early female marriage is customary in Bangladesh. Most female have been married before age 20, with almost 100 percent getting married by the time they reach age 30. Data from the 2004 BDHS indicates that, among the 10205 sampled married females aged below 50 years; about 95 percent had been married when they were below age 20 and only 5 percent were married at 20 years of age or older. In Bangladesh the legal age of marriage is 18 years for the women; however a large proportion of marriages of still take place. Thus, it may be said that about 95 percent of marriages in Bangladesh are teenage or adolescent marriages. This situation gives rise to a very low age at marriage in Bangladesh. This leads to an exceptionally low mean age at first marriages, i.e. 13.4 years. Legislation on age of marriage, therefore, seems to be ineffective in delaying childhood marriage in Bangladesh. In a recent study have observed that a large majority of the rural community in Bangladesh are ignorant about the legal age for marriage and are even less concerned about the negative social and health consequences of adolescent marriage. According to the regression, the TFR equals on average 7 .82 births per women in the absences of contraception (CPR=0), and fertility declines at a rate of approximately 1.0 births per women for each 9% increment in the contraceptive prevalence rate. Under such relationship between TFR and CPR the replacement fertility requires a prevalence level of fertility can be achieved. The regression equation of TFR on CPR suggest that a TFR of 2.5 births per women can be achieved by the year 2015 if the level of CPR is raised to 65% and if the level of contraception is raised to 73% it is possible to achieve a target fertility level of 2.0 per women.