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Based on the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey, the region’s fertility
rate is 3.6 births per woman, almost the sane as that of the national average. In this same survey, Region 7 had one of the lowest levels of unmet need for family planning at 16. 6 percent lower
than the national at 17.3 percent. The wanted fertility is, however, only 2.6, or one child less than the current fertility rate. Six out of 10 (66.2%) currently married women in Central
Visayas say that they and their partners want the same number of children. While one in five currently married women believes that her partner wants more children than she does. Only about six percent of
currently married women report that they want more children than their partner.
The decrease in unmet is partially attributed to the reported increase in
contraceptive use among women in Central Visayas from 46.9 percent 1998 to 52.1 percent in 2003. The total demand for family planning services in the region is 72.2 percent. More than half of that
demand is for limiting births. Only two-fifths of this demand are, however, satisfied. The unsatisfied demand or unmet need for family planning service is 16.6 percent: 8.0 percent for spacing births and
8.6 percent for limiting births.
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