Pakistan, 1975 (WFS)

The following description of this survey appeared in the 1991 edition of Dynamic Database: A Catalogue of Survey Data Files, Voorburg: International Statistical Institute.

Basic Information

• Name of survey: Pakistan Fertility Survey
• Executive agency: Population Welfare Division, Ministry of Planning and Development
• Date of fieldwork: 1975
• Universe: Ever-married women, -50
• Coverage: National, 93%
• Size: 4952
• Weights: Self-weighting within domain
• Contents: WFS Core Mark 1 + fertility regulation module
• Supplementary surveys: Household members (n = 32,008, self-weighting within domains); Community (n = 193 rural clusters); Re-interview (n = 1200)

Additional Information

The household and individual surveys were conducted in a single field phase. The individual questionnaire was printed in four local languages.

Unusually for a WFS survey, the precise mode of reporting date of each live birth (month reported, season reported, month not reported) is preserved on the SR file. A further unusual feature is the collection of the breastfeeding duration for each child. A complete history of non-live births is on the SR file.

Additional information about contraception was collected: mass media exposure to information; knowledge and use of supply sources; difficulties experienced; whether visited by or met a family planning worker and, if so, how long ago; reason for lack of future intention to use and reason for stopping last method. It should be noted however that there was no probing for knowledge of contraceptive methods with the probable result that contraceptive use is under-reported.

The community survey collected information on the following characteristics of each selected village in the rural domain: transportation, communication, health, family planning, educational facilities and access to agricultural infrastructure. Data were collected for 193 of the 200 clusters. The DDB does not hold a file for this survey. The re-interview survey was never processed.

Release Conditions

Data may be used for academic research, provided that credit is given in any publication resulting from the research to the agency that conducted the survey and that two copies of any publication are sent to:

Public Use Files

Available files include the individual standard recode data and dictionary, in the original WFS format. In addition, the individual standard recode data and dictionary dictionary are available in ISSA format. The table below lists the file names and descriptions.

Key References

1. Population Planning Council of Pakistan, Pakistan Fertility Survey: First Report, Islamabad, 1976.

2. Alam, I. and B. Dinesen, eds Fertility in Pakistan: a Review of Findings from the Pakistan Fertility Survey, ISI, 1984. (Includes evaluation study).

3. Nizamuddin, M., Collecting WFS Community Data: the Pakistan Experience, in J.B. Casterline, ed The Collection and Analysis of Community Data, ISI, 1985.