Fertility change in Costa Rica 1960-84: analysis of retrospective lifetime reproductive histories.

ABSTRACT

PIP: Lifetime reproductive histories of a 1984 through 1985 nationally representative sample of 870 women aged 25 through 59 years provided data to describe the evolution of fertility, contraception, breast feeding, and natural fecundity in Costa Rica between 1969 and 1984. The contraceptive prevalence rate increased from 23% in 1965 to 58% in 1975 and 66% in 1984. Duration of breastfeeding was stable during the 1960s, decreased in the early 1970s, and increased after about 1976. Fecundability among women who did not practice contraception was lower than expected and declined between 1960 and 1975, probably because of the selection effects. Despite a high consistency between estimations from the reproductive histories and other sources of data, some suggestion of omissions of short periods of contraceptive use in the distant past was detected. The survey may have reduced recall errors by using a calendar that summarizes major life events together. The analysis demonstrated the feasibility and usefulness of asking for lifetime reproductive histories in fertility surveys in developing countries. Retrospective information gathered on 900 women permitted reconstruction of the results in a a period of dramatic changes. However, Costa Rica may be somewhat exceptional among developing countries because of its high levels of literacy. Some of the few, older, illiterate women may have found a life history calendar difficult to decipher, but others seemed to grasp the approach as easily as did the literate men.