Examination of birth intervals importantly provides insights into birth spacing patterns and subsequent maternal and child health. We investigated the socio-economic factors affecting time elapsed since marriage to first birth, first to second birth and mean birth interval. A face to face survey was carried out among married women, who had at least one child, in Bangladesh. Results revealed that 80.2% of participants gave birth within two years of marriage, whereas 19.8% gave birth after two years. Around two-third of the participants (64.4%) spent ≤2 years and 35.6% spent more than two years since first to second birth, whereas 68.1% participants spent a mean of ≤2 years and 31.9% spent more than two years as mean birth interval. Results of Cox regression analysis revealed that women’ age, husband’s monthly income, birth place, family type, number of children, women’ age at marriage and health care exclusion significantly explained time spend since marriage to first birth. Birth place, mass media exposure and health care exclusion significantly influenced the interval from first to second birth, while women’s education, age at marriage, husband’s monthly income, family type, birth place, number of children, birth place, exposure to mass media and high health care exclusion significantly affected mean birth interval. We conclude with suggestions for increased mass media campaign against early marriage, continuing women’s empowerment initiatives to capable women to make decision and efforts to increase health care utilization.
ISSN 0119-8386 (Print)
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