Demand and Supply Factors Determining Contraceptive Use in Tanzania

Flora L. Kessy, Sokoine University of Agriculture
Mary Arends-Kuenning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Low contraceptive prevalence rate and unmet demand for family planning services present a challenge for family planning research in Tanzania. The observed situation has been explained by the demand-side variables such as socio-economic characteristics and cultural values that maintain the demand for large families. However, less empirical research has been done on the effect of supply-side factors such as quality of care of family planning services on the demand for contraceptives. This paper presents the effect of supply-side factors on contraceptive use in Tanzania and the magnitude of the impact of supply-side factors relative to demand-side factors such as socio-economic characteristics of women. This paper uses Tanzania Service Accessibility Survey (1996) and Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (1996) data sets. The results show that some supply-side factors are important determinants of contraceptive use in Tanzania even after controlling for demand-side factors.