Modern Contraceptive Utilization and Associated Factors Among Married Women in Liberia: Evidence from the 2019 Liberia Demographic and Health Survey

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents (n = 4216)

Variables	Total, n (%)	Modern Contraception Utilization		P-value
		Yes, n (%)	No, n (%)
Age (years)
15–19	204 (4.85)	19 (9)	185 (91)	P<0.001
20–24	625 (14.83)	169 (27)	456 (73)
25–29	788 (18.69)	222 (28)	566 (72)
30–34	819 (19.43)	223 (27)	596 (73)
35–39	785 (18.61)	193 (25)	592 (75)
40–44	546 (12.93)	119 (22)	427 (78)
45–49	450 (10.66)	63 (14)	387 (86)
Religion
Christian	3482 (82.59)	905 (26)	2576 (74)	P<0.001
Muslim	658 (15.62)	83 (12)	576 (88)
Traditional religion	23 (0.53)	6 (25)	17 (75)
No religion	53 (1.26)	40 (76)	13 (24)
Place of residence
Urban	2268 (53.8)	508 (22)	1761 (78)	0.908
Rural	1948 (46.2)	498 (26)	1449 (74)
Region
Northwestern	400 (9.46)	105 (26)	295 (74)	<0.001
Southcentral	1801 (42.71)	372 (21)	1429 (79)
Southeastern a	297 (7.03)	109 (37)	187 (63)
Southeastern b	254 (6.04)	110 (43)	145 (56)
Northcentral	1464 (34.73)	310 (21)	1154 (79)
Occupation
Unemployed	1013 (24.0)	214 (21)	214 (21)	0.014
Employed	3203 (76.0)	794 (25)	2406 (75)
Respondents’ education
No education	1814 (43.02)	367 (20)	1447 (80)	<0.001
Primary	936 (22.18)	232 (25)	703 (975)
Secondary	1282 (30.42)	362 (28)	921 (72)
Higher	184 (4.37)	45 (24)	139 (76)
Wealth index
Poorest	931 (22.07)	219 (21.57)	711(22.17)	0.011
Poorer	903 (21.41)	227 (22.59)	675 (21.04)
Middle	807 (19.16)	187 (18.61)	620 (19.33)
Richer	783 (18.58)	227 (22.6)	555 (17.32)
Richest	792 (18.78)	145 (14.45)	646 (20.13)
Husbands educational level
No education	1101 (26.13)	211 (19)	891 (81)	<0.001
Primary	507 (12.02)	112 (22)	394 (78)
Secondary	1861 (44.15)	508 (27)	1353 (73)
Higher	495 (11.73)	121 (24)	374 (76)
Do not know	252 (5.98)	54 (21%)	198 (79%)

Table 2 Obstetric and Media Exposure Among Reproductive-Age Women in Liberia

Variable	Modern Contraceptive Utilization		P-value
	Yes, n (%)	No, n (%)
Knows methods
Knows no method	0 (0)	55 (100)	<0.001
Knows modern methods	1006 (23.87)	3155 (76.13)
Age at first sex
Less than 18	850 (24)	2676 (76)	0.431
18–24	148 (22)	525 (78)
25 and above	8 (48)	9 (52)
Number of living children
No child	27 (11)	223 (89)	<0.001
1–2	356 (24)	1147 (76)
3–4	325 (24)	1044 (76)
5 and above	299 (27)	795 (73)
Frequency of reading newspaper
Not at all	891 (23.48)	2905 (76.52)	0.357
Less than once a week	102 (29)	251 (71)
At least once a week	13 (19)	54 (81)
Frequency of listening to the radio
Not at all	387 (22)	1381 (78)	0.192
Less than once a week	335 (25.4)	981 (74.6)
At least once a week	284 (25)	848 (75)
Frequency of watching TV
Not at all	685 (23)	2182 (77)	0.741
Less than once a week	170 (22)	606 (78)
At least once a week	152 (26)	421 (74)
Fertility preference
Have another	550 (24)	1719 (75)	<0.001
Undecided	85 (22)	292 (78)
No more	358 (25)	1073 (75)
Sterilized	9 (100)	0 (0)
Declared infecund	5 (4)	125 (96)

Table 3 Prevalence of Modern Contraceptive Among Married Reproductive Age Women in Liberia

Variables	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Contraceptive use
Yes	1006	76
No	3210	24
Type of contraceptive
Injectables	579	13.74
Implants/ Norplant	195	4.63
Pills	171	4.06
Male condom	35	0.83
Withdrawal	26	0.63
Periodic abstinence	20	0.46
Female sterilization	9	0.21
IUD	6	0.15
Other methods	5	0.12
Lactational amenorrhea	4	0.08
Standard days method	1	0.02
Emergency contraception	1	0.03
Not using	3164	75.05

Table 4 Factors Associated with Modern Contraceptive Utilization Among Reproductive-Age Women in Liberia, 2019

Variables	COR (95% CI)	AOR (95% CI)	Sig.
Age of respondent
15–19	1
20–24	2.72 (1.85, 4.02)	2.08 (1.37, 3.14)*	0.001
25–29	2.84 (1.94, 4.17)	1.73 (1.13, 2.65)*	0.018
30–34	2.83 (1.93, 4.14)	1.34 (0.86, 2.10)	0.267
35–39	2.65 (1.81, 3.88)	1.13 (0.71, 1.78)	0.752
40–44	2.09 (1.41, 3.19)	0.78 (0.48, 1.26)	0.216
45–49	1.08 (0.71, 1.65)	0.46 (0.27, 0.76)*	0.001
Education
No Education	1
Primary	1.31 (1.11, 1.52)	1.16 (0.98, 1.14)	0.111
Secondary	1.53 (1.30, 1.79)	1.52 (1.22, 1.88)*	<0.001
Higher	1.11 (0.7, 1.69)	1.72 (1.01, 2.94)	0.053
Region
North Western	1
South Central	0.66 (0.53, 0.82)	0.48 (0.37, 0.61)*	<0.001
South Eastern A	1.41 (1.14, 1.76)	1.04 (0.81, 1.33)	0.785
South Eastern B	1.93 (1.57, 2.39)	1.40 (1.11, 1.79)*	0.007
North Central	0.67 (0.54, 0.83)	0.48 (0.37, 0.61)*	<0.001
Religion
Christian (ref)	1
Muslim	0.49 (0.40, 0.62)	0.52 (0.40, 0.67)*	<0.001
Traditional	0.69 (0.29, 1.62)	0.89 (0.36, 2.19)	0.807
No Religion	0.69 (0.37, 1.28)	0.79 (0.41, 1.51)	0.491
Residence
Urban	1	–
Rural	0.99 (0.87, 1.13)	–
Wealth index
Poorest	1
Poorer	1.20 (1.02, 1.42)	1.18 (0.98, 1.41)	0.078
Middle	1.17 (0.98, 1.40)	1.21 (0.99, 1.48)	0.075
Richer	1.19 (0.97, 1.47)	1.41 (1.09, 1.81)*	0.009
Richest	0.82 (0.63, 1.05)	1.01 (0.72, 1.40)	0.942
Occupation
Unemployed	1
Employed	1.21 (1.04, 1.42)	1.26 (1.06, 1.51)*	0.011
Number of children alive
No child	1
1–2	2.90 (1.91, 4.40)	2.81 (1.80, 4.39)*	<0.001
3–4	3.02 (1.99, 4.59)	3.87 (2.40, 6.24)*	<0.001
5 and above	3.82 (2.53, 5.79)	7.06 (4.27, 11.69)*	<0.001
Husbands’ education
Not educated	1
Primary	1.27 (1.03, 1.57)	1.00 (0.79, 1.26)	0.3
Secondary	1.67 (1.43, 1.97)	1.35 (1.12, 1.63)*	0.02
Higher	1.45 (1.12, 1.88)	1.33 (0.96, 1.83)	1.71
Do not know	1.27 (0.96, 1.67)	1.14 (0.85, 1.54)	0.85
Husbands desire for children
Both want the same	1	1
Husband wants more	0.84 (0.70, 0.99)	0.92 (0.76, 1.11)	0.37
Husband wants fewer	1.09 (0.82, 1.46)	1.05 (0.77, 1.42)	0.78
Do not know	0.78 (0.67, 0.90)	0.86 (0.74, 1.02)	0.08
Decision on contraceptive use
Mainly respondent	1
Mainly husband	2.81 (0.64, 12.33)	–
Joint decision	1.22 (0.61, 2.45)	–
Frequency of reading newspaper
Not at all	1	–
Less than once a week	1.2 (0.92, 1.56)	–
At least once a week	0.88 (0.49, 1.59)	–
Frequency of listening to the radio
Not at all	1	–
Less than once a week	1.11 (0.96, 1.29)	–
At least once a week	1.14 (0.97, 1.34)	–
Frequency of watching TV
Not at all	1
Less than once a week	1.06 (0.89, 1.26)	–
At least once a week	1.0 6 (0.85, 1.32)	–
Women’s fertility preference
Have another	1
Undecided	1.00 (0.80, 1.24)	0.90 (0.71, 1.14)	0.416
No more	1.07 (0.93, 1.22)	1.06 (0.89, 1.26)	0.477
Declared infecund	0.73 (0.03, 0.2)	0.13 (0.46, 0.36) *	<0.001
Age at first sex
Less than 18	1
18–24	0.84 (0.70, 1.02)	–
25 and above	1.04 (0.27.4.05)	–
Ever had terminated pregnancy
No	1
Yes	0.94 (0.82, 1.10)	–
Number of visits
No	1
Yes	1.00 (0.93, 1.08)	–

Notes: Professional/technical/managerial Clerical, Sales, Agricultural – employee, Services, Skilled manual, Unskilled manual, and others are categorized as employed. Not working as non-employed. *Significant at p-value< 0.05.