Sociodemographic characteristics of women giving birth
Between 1998-2017, a total of 40743 women who gave birth were included
in the analysis. Table 1 presents the women’s demographic
characteristics. Around half of the women were aged 20-29 years, and the
proportion of women who were over 30 years old increased from 30.2% in
1998-2002 to 41.8% in 2013-2017. Women’s educational attainment
increased over time and 56.3% of them received junior or senior high
school education in 2013-2017. In previous waves of the survey, rural
women outnumbered urban women, though they almost reached equal in
2013-2017. The proportion of households at the poorest quintile
decreased from 31.4% in 1998-2002 to 26.6% in 2013-2017. The
proportion of the households in the middle and richer quintiles
increased slightly over time. Less than one-third of women had only one
child and half of all women had two or three children in 2013-2017. The
proportion of women having over four children decreased over time.
Homebirth decreased significantly from 61.4% in 1998-2002 to 24.5% in
2013-2017. Women who used private childbirth services increased from
27.2% in 1998-2002 to 39.8% in 2013-2017. The private childbirth
services were dominated by private midwives, accounting for 66.5% of
services in 1998-2002 and 51.7% in 2013-2017. Those who used public
services increased from 11.4% in 1998-2002 to 35.7% in 2013-2017.
Public childbirth services were provided mainly by government hospitals.
Regional distribution remained relatively stable over time due to
sampling weights produced during data collection.