Family planning and fertility in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has achieved a considerable increase in contraceptive use over the past decade, resulting in an appreciable decline in fertility. The programme efforts have been largely facilitated by major changes over the past two decades, both positive and negative. Positive changes include female education, female empowerment, female mobility and access to the media. Negative changes include increasing landlessness, and rising unemployment and underemployment. Also, other changes have taken place such as change in the family size norm and a decline in infant and child mortality (Caldwell and others, 1999). In addition, fertility decline is also due to other proximate determinants besides contraceptive use.