title: Determinants of fertility in rural Ethiopia: the case of Butajira Demographic Surveillance System (DSS).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fertility is high in rural Ethiopia. Women in the reproductive age group differed in various characteristics including access to food and encounter to drought which requisite the assessment of determinants of fertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reproductive age women were recruited from a DSS, the Butajira DSS database. A DHS maternity history questionnaire was administered on 9996 participants. Data quality was assured besides ethical clearance. Poisson regression crude and adjusted Incidence Rate Ratio with 95 Confidence Interval were used to identify determinants of fertility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Delayed marriage, higher education, smaller family, absence of child death experience and living in food-secured households were associated with small number of children. Fertility was significantly higher among women with no child sex preference. However, migration status of women was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Policy makers should focus on hoisting women secondary school enrollment and age at first marriage. The community should also be made aware on the negative impact of fertility on household economy, environmental degradation and the country's socio-economic development at large.
authors: School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. wubegzierm@gmail.com
authors: Wubegzier
authors: W
authors: Mekonnen
authors: Alemayehu
authors: A
authors: Worku
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001723:Birth Rate / Q000639:trends*; D004522:Educational Status; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult