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Haiti Fertility and Family Planning
A number of studies show that Haiti's fertility rate
declined
significantly from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. As
was
true in other countries, there appeared to be a
correlation among
declining fertility rates, urban residence, and literacy.
The
1977 Haitian Fertility Survey found that between 1962 and
1977,
the fertility rate of urban literate women declined by 33
percent. In contrast, the rate for rural illiterate women
declined by only 7 percent during the same period.
Moreover, the
fertility rate of literate rural women declined by 27
percent,
while that of illiterate urban women declined by 15
percent.
Haitian women interviewed in the 1977 survey indicated
that
they desired between three and four children, but at that
time,
the average woman had more than five children.
Expressed desire for family planning services exceeded
available programs, and many women lacked access to modern
contraceptives and birth-control information. The survey
found
that, despite the widespread desire for fewer children,
only 7
percent of women of childbearing age were using modern
contraceptives. Haitian men traditionally shunned the use
of
condoms. The fertility survey reported a condom-use rate
of only
1 percent. The absence of more recent surveys made it
impossible
to determine whether or not condom use had risen in
response to
the high incidence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
(AIDS)
in Haiti.
Data as of December 1989
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