Factors Associated with Female Sterilization in Brazil

Abstract

In this chapter we analyze factors associated with female sterilization in Brazil. We extend earlier analyses by adding a variable to the survival models that captures the amount of time of exposure to the risk of sterilization. We use data from the 2006 Brazilian National Survey on Demography and Health of Children and Women (PNDS). Our results are of special significance because, among other things, they aid our understanding of Brazil’s remarkable decline in fertility from a total fertility rate of 6.3 children per woman in 1960 to 1.9 children per woman in 2010, a fertility rate below the replacement level (IBGE 2012). The increased use of modern contraception is a major factor associated with the fertility decline (Amorim et al. 2008; Berquó et al. 2008; Cavenaghi and Alves 2009; Leone and Hinde 2005; Perpétuo 1998; Perpétuo and Wajnman 2003; Perpétuo and Wong 2009). Of special interest is the fact that the two main contraceptive methods in Brazil are female sterilization and oral contraception (Janowitz et al. 1985; Perpétuo and Wong 2009; Potter 1999; Vieira 2007).