Abstract

ABSTRACT
The results reported in this paper are part of a comprehensive cross-sectional study carried out in Basrah
governorate-Southern Iraq to quantify specific aspects of fertility. The study covered 2670 ever married women aged
15-60 years. The studied women were interviewed regarding demographic characteristics and detailed history of their
pregnancy experience. The results showed that the crude birth rate was 36.4 per 1000 population, the general fertility
rate was 139.3 per 1000 women, the average number of pregnancies per woman was 4.3 and the average number of
live births was 3.4 per woman. About 37.9% of women had at least one lost pregnancy (abortion or still birth) and
pregnancy wastage accounted for 14.1% of all reported pregnancies. The total fertility rate was 6.4 per woman and
showed some degree of decline over the last two decades. About 70% (R2=0.70)of fertility variation among women
could be explained by variables related to envisaged ideal family size, duration of use of family planning methods,
pregnancy wastage, number of women siblings, duration of couple separation, education of woman father, education
of woman and education of husband.