Female Sterilization in Latin America: Cross-National Perspectives

Iuri da Costa Leite, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública
Neeru Gupta, World Health Organization (WHO)
Roberto do Nascimento Rodrigues, Federal University of Minas Gerais

Fertility levels have dropped substantially in Latin America in recent decades, fuelled by increased contraceptive use and notably a method mix skewed towards female sterilization. This study examines choice of female sterilization in four Latin American countries: Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic and Peru. Data are drawn from four national Demographic and Health Surveys conducted around the same period (1995-1996). Discrete-time hazard models are used on the five-year calendar modules of women's reproductive histories to consider the effects of a number of socio-demographic and contextual determinants as they pertain to status at the moment of the event. In addition, a multilevel approach is used to compensate for intra-cluster correlation given the DHS two-stage sampling scheme. The multivariate, multilevel analyses allow us to evaluate whether observed differentials in levels of female sterilization across societies are primarily the result of cultural or structural differences favoring adoption of this method.