A study on the demographic impact of an IUD programme.

Abstract This paper discusses and presents data obtained through various studies and surveys on the effect of the IUD contraceptive programme in Taiwan. It has been demonstrated that the fertility of IUD acceptors before first acceptance was 58 % higher than that of married women in general and that, after acceptance, it declined by about 76%. The corresponding fertility decline among married women in general was only about %. Acceptors had had more recent births, as indicated by their shorter 'open interval' of 20.7 months, compared with 374 months among the women in the KAP survey sample. If the fertility of IUD acceptors had declined at the same rate as that of married women in general in the absence of IUD, the insertion of about 4 IUDs would probably prevent one live birth in the following year. Observation over a longer period, however, is needed to determine the demographic effect of IUD. Data on fertility control practice after termination, type of termination of pregnancies after first acceptance, life-table rates by various socio-demographic characteristics of acceptors, and the 'life expectancy' of the first segment of IUD are also presented.