Demographic change and its impact on reproductive health needs of Sri Lanka

Abstract

In Sri Lanka, during the past century, the female age at marriage increased almost by seven years from 18.3 years in 1901 to 25.5 years in 1993. Since then age at marriage offemales demonstrated a significant decline - to low as 23.4 years in 2012. Along with this trend, age at marriage of males also shows a decline. The decline of age at marriage has significantly impact on the fertility since early 2000. The total fertility rate of 5.3 births per woman in 1963 declined to 3.4 in 1981 and further to 2.3 for the period 1988-1993. The DHS 2000 data, for the period 1995-2000, has measured TFR in Sri Lanka to be in the range of 1.9 births per woman, which was even below the replacement fertility of 2.1. Thus, based on the above sources, it should be noted that TFR of Sri Lanka had reached the replacement fertility level by 1994 at the latest. However, according to the 2006-07 DHS and 2012 census data, there is a sudden jump in TFR up to 2.3 and 2.4 levels respectively. The latest TFR value of Sri Lanka derived from 2012 census data is well above the TFR reported by number of South Asian countries, such as Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan etc. A number of demographic factors as well as socio-economic factors such as marriage, contraception, abortion, migration and remittances, life styles, Tsunami, attitudinal changes etc. might have influenced the fertility increase. In recent years, the government had intensified the onslaught of abortion centers and initiated vigorous persecution. In the present environment when unmarried girl who got pregnant with unwanted pregnancy it is difficult for her to terminate the pregnancy - facilities ware hardly available.