Abstract

Suresh Sharma*and Atika Pasha

This paper uses District Level House Survey (DLHS) and National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data to investigate the use and knowledge of contraceptive methods within two religious communities in India, Muslim and Hindu. The obligations and tenets of their religion require Muslim women to defer from using any contraceptive method. Such commitments to one’s faith may turn out to be a deterrent in the use of contraception by this community. Given the data for Hindu and Muslims, it was found that the use and knowledge of traditional methods was significantly higher within Muslim women compared to Hindu Women. Consequently, traditional use also showed a higher prevalence among Muslims. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the factors affecting use of traditional methods. The results showed that education significantly contributed to the use of traditional contraception in India. Age, rural residence, and wanting another child were significant in the socioeconomic factors examined. The results also suggest that education does not affect traditional method use among women contraception when controlling for other factors.