Bolivia, like most developing countries, has experienced a decline in fertility. However, in 1998, as many as 27.6% of all married women in Bolivia were classified as having an unmet need for contraception, of whom 20.6% needed to limit and 7% needed to space an additional child. The current article analyzes the unmet need for contraception in Bolivia. A multinomial hierarchical model was used to identify factors associated with the unmet need for contraception. Variables such as woman's age, number of living children, length of marriage, region, and schooling were strongly associated with unmet need for contraception. Despite the large number of variables in the model, a certain amount of unexplained variation at the individual level still remains, indicating the need to incorporate more detailed analysis at the community level.
Contraception; Birth Control; Fertility
