| Overall impact: |  Strong |
|---|---|
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Impact: |
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Strength: |
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Includes lower fertility rate (total and adolescent), longer inter-pregnancy intervals, and older maternal age at first birth.
Literature Review
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Impact: |
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Strength: |
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Substantial global literature exists on the relationship between fertility and childhood stunting.
Quantitative Analysis
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Impact: |
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Strength: |
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According to the linear mixed effects regression, neither total fertility rate, interpregnancy interval, nor births by younger mothers was found to have a significant relationship with stunting prevalence over the 2000-2016 period. However, total fertility rate was significantly correlated with stunting prevalence from 2008 to 2016, with a small effect size.
According to the decomposition analysis, parity and interpregnancy interval were strong predictors of change in HAZ at the index mother/child level: fertility consistently accounted for 11-16 percent of increase in HAZ-score.
Qualitative Analysis
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Impact: |
- |
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Strength: |
- |
Neither family planning nor fertility was mentioned.
Conclusion
It is likely that a decrease in parity and an increase in interpregnancy intervals contributed to decreases in stunting prevalence. However, it is unclear the extent to which deliberate programs designed to improve family planning may have contributed to reduced fertility, relative to nationwide secular trends.