Fertility and Family Planning in Haiti

Allman, resident adviser in Haiti for the Center for Population and Family Health of Columbia University, bases the paper mainly on the 1977 Haiti Fertility Survey, part of the World Fertility Survey program. It is the first nationally representative survey in Haiti with data on contraceptive knowledge and use, and its sample was 3211 women aged 15 to 49, of whom 2176 had ever been in union. The paper compares its results with the 1971 census and the 1971 to 1975 multiround demographic survey.

He reports that fertility is not low but is well below the levels of over 6.5 seen in some African and Middle Eastern countries, with marked urban and rural differences and the lowest rates in Port-au-Prince. Over 85 percent of women ever in union knew of at least one contraceptive method, 37 percent had ever used contraception, and 75 percent of women at risk of childbearing were not practicing it, with the majority of users relying on inefficient methods. Of women ever in union who never used contraception, 40 percent said they intend to use fertility regulation in future. The national family planning program began in urban areas in 1973, four years before the survey, and the survey provides a baseline for later progress.