Trends in Unmet Need for Family Planning 1990 – 2018: Its Correlation With Socio-Demographic Indices and Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rates in Nigeria

This desk review of previous Demographic and Health Surveys (1990–2018) aims to shed light on changes in unmet family planning needs and its connections to sociodemographic factors, women's empowerment, and gender-based violence. Utilizing USAID Statcompiler, these variables were cross-tabulated, and tables of trends were used to display the results. Although women in metropolitan areas, in the southern half of the country, with just primary education, and those in the fourth wealth quintile have the greatest unmet demand. There is no discernible association between the prevalence of contemporary contraceptives, women's decision-making, and unmet family planning needs (mCPR). The lack of a consistent trend relationship between unmet need and some of the socio-demographic variables call for further in-depth surveys to understand the direct and indirect factors which determines individual and couples’ fertility preference and the need for contraception.