Delayed Fertility Transition Among Indigenous Women In the Ecuadorian Amazon

Abstract

CONTEXT Communities indigenous to the Amazon are among the few remaining worldwide still practicing near natural fertility, without the use of modern contraceptives. Given the large proportion of women desiring no more births, information on the challenges women there face in limiting fertility would be useful. METHODS Samples of women of reproductive age from five indigenous ethnic groups in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon were surveyed in 2001 and 2012. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses examined married women’s desire for another child at both times and modern contraceptive use in 2012, as well as determinants of a change in women’s desire to have more children and of the number of children born during the study period. RESULTS In 2001, 48% of married women desired another child, 2% used a modern contraceptive and 50% had an unmet need for limiting; in 2012, the proportions were 40%, 19% and 47%, respectively. The total fertility rate was 7.9 in 2001 and 7.0 in 2012. Characteristics associated with wanting another child in 2001 and 2012 included parity (odds ratios, 0.6 and 0.4, respectively) and experience of a child death (2.0 each); characteristics associated with contraceptive use in 2012 included desire for another child, experience of a child death and presence of a community health worker (0.3–0.5). Number of children born was positively associated, and the square of the term negatively associated, with no longer wanting more children in 2012 among women who wanted more in 2001 (odds ratios, 2.1 and 0.9, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Indigenous women in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon appear to be transitioning to lower fertility. Insufficient access to credible information about the safety and efficacy of modern contraceptives, however, may slow the transition. International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2015, 41(1):TK.

Increasing Educational Disparities in the Timing of Motherhood in the Andean Region: A Cohort Perspective

“…Education has been one of the most important markers of the differences in fertility and timing of motherhood in the Andean region and Latin America more broadly (Bozon et al 2009;Castro-Martín and Juarez 1995;ECLAC 2011;Heaton and Forste 2009;Rodríguez 2013;Weinberger et al 1989) but these processes have been also differentiated by household income, ethnicity, and place of residence (Davis et al 2015;ECLAC 2005ECLAC , 2011; Rodríguez Vignoli 2014b). There exists a strong association between all of these characteristics in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.…”

Agricultural land use among mestizo colonist and indigenous populations: Contrasting patterns in the Amazon

“…Nevertheless, several studies [ 10 – 15 ] show that indigenous peoples sometimes also engage in unsustainable practices, including cash cropping, cattle ranching and timber logging when in contact with the market economy. Such changes are a matter of concern, given the importance of large indigenous territories for conservation in Ecuador and throughout the Amazon basin [ 16 , 17 ], the high rates of deforestation in colonist lands [ 18 ], the high rates of population growth in indigenous communities [ 12 , 19 ], and the accelerated integration of indigenous peoples into the market economy [ 20 ].…”

Family planning and deforestation: evidence from the Ecuadorian Amazon

“…Between 1990 and 2010, the population in the NEA grew by roughly 131% to over 416,000 persons, compared with 50% population growth nationally during the same period (INEC 2011). However, fertility rates have fallen considerably in the region among settlers (Pan and López-Carr 2016), though very little among indigenous groups (Davis et al 2015). As the forest frontier has receded, much of this population growth is occurring around the burgeoning urban areas of Coca and Lago Agrio, leading to increasingly large, settled, and concentrated populations in the region (Bilsborrow et al 2004).…”

“…Biodiversity-rich forest frontiers are experiencing higher rates of population growth than other rural areas (Williams 2013), and even small changes in population growth near forest frontiers can contribute to large losses of forest cover (López-Carr and Burgdorfer 2013). This rapid population growth is a function of both in-migration (Carr 2009), as well as high fertility rates (Bremner et al 2009; Carr 2005; Davis et al 2015), suggesting that these regions may be among the last places to undergo a demographic transition to lower fertility.…”