Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, May 18: More than half of the population consider two or fewer children to be the ideal size of the family in J&K, according to the National Health and Family Survey (NHFS).
The survey said that there is strong preference for sons in J&K and just seven percent of couples prefer more daughters than sons.
“Fifty-four percent of currently married women and forty-four percent of men in the 15-49 group want no more children, are already sterilized, or have a spouse who is sterilized,” it adds. “Among those who want another child, 42 percent of women and 46 percent of men would like to wait at least two years before the next birth. Almost three-fifths of the women (59%) and half of the men (49%) consider the ideal family size to be two or fewer children.”
In Jammu & Kashmir, according to the survey, there is a strong preference for sons as 23 percent women and 25 percent men want more sons than daughters, but only 7 percent of women and men want more daughters than sons.
“However, over four-fifths of women (84-87%) and men (87-89%) would like to have at least one son and at least one daughter,” it added. “Women desire for more children is strongly affected by their current number of sons. For example, among women with two children, about 65 percent with 1 son want no more children, compared with 38 percent with two daughters who want no more children,” it said.
The proportion of currently married women and men with two children who want no more children irrespective of their number of sons has been decreased to 60 percent in NFHS -5 from 69 percent in NFHS-4, and for men it has decreased to 51 percent in NFHS-5 from 65 percent in NFHS-4, it added.
