Denpasar, Bali (ANTARA News) - Married Balinese women have an average of 2.1 children in accordance with the national target for 2015, head of the Bali National Family Planning Coordinating Agency I Wayan Sundra said here Monday.

"Bali is five months early in realizing balanced population growth and prosperous happy small families," he said.

Wayan noted Bali had successfully decreased its total fertility rate from 5.6 children in 1970 to 2.1 children in 2000. The number was smaller than targeted.

He explained the ability to maintain the average number of children at 2.1 was due to the husbands` encouragement and the widespread use of safe contraception methods with eight out of ten reproductive age couples now being acceptors.

Wayan said besides improving its total fertility rate, Bali was also determined to reduce the rate of unserved family planning needs from from 9.1 percent to five percent of the total number of reproductive age couples.

The other strategic program was to raise the average marrying age of women from 19.8 to 21 years old. It was expected to result in more women marrying at a more mature age in the future.

Bali`s age specific fertility rate in the 15 - 19 year group was also to be decreased from 35 percent to 30 percent per thousand women and the rate of unwanted pregnancies from 19.7 percent to as little as possible.

Poor families were targeted to participate in family planning programs through the development of economically productive groups, Wayan said.

Bali`s performance in implementing family planning was remarkable even at the national level because it had as many as 555,277 acceptors or 84 percent of 648,242 reproductive age couples at the end of July 2010.

The acceptors using safe contraceptive methods numbered 32,155 including new family planning practitioners.

Most of them are housewives 47.57 percent of whom use intra uterine devices (IUDs) and the rest other effective contraceptive methods.(*)
 

Editor: Ruslan Burhani
COPYRIGHT © 2012

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