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Highlights from the El Salvador Survey |
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Back to El Salvador Highlights
Among the highlights of this report are:
Figure 1:
Trends in Total Fertility Rate, 1993–1998 to 1997–2002
The total fertility
rate for women aged 15–49 years declined from 3.6 children per woman during
1993–1998 to 3.0 during 1997–2002. This decline was more pronounced among
women in rural areas (although they still have 1.4 more children, on
average, than urban women) and among those with one to three years of
schooling.
Figure 2: Trends in
Age-specific Fertility Rates
Since the mid-1980s, important changes in the age-specific pattern of
fertility were observed. While in the late 1980s there were decreases in
fertility among women 30 years and older, recently, in the late 1990s, El
Salvador has seen important declines among women in their 20s and early 30s.
Figure 3:
Wanted and
Unwanted Fertility by Area of Residence, Education and Socio–economic Level
Of all births in the past five years, one quarter (24%) were unwanted. Levels of unwanted fertility were nearly twice as high in rural areas
as in urban, and three times as high among women with no formal education as
among those with 10 or more years of education. Similarly, women in the
lowest socioeconomic level were three times as likely to have an unwanted
birth as those in the highest level.
Figure 4:
Contraceptive Use by Area of Residence, Education, Socio-economic Level,
and Religion
Among all women in union in El Salvador, 67% are using a
contraceptive method, and half of these are using the permanent method
of female sterilization. (Eighteen percent use the injectable hormonal
contraceptive, and 6 percent use oral contraceptives.) Rates of
contraceptive use increase with education and with economic status, and are
considerably higher in urban areas than in rural. There is not a great deal
of difference in contraceptive use based on religious affiliation, although
Protestants have the highest rates of sterilization. Rates of sterilization
are higher in urban areas, among the less educated, and among those of
higher socioeconomic status.
Figure 5: Percent Distribution of Young Adults (15–24) by
Marital Status at First Sexual Experience, by Sex
Two-thirds of young men (ages 15–24) in El Salvador have had sexual
experience, as have half the young women in the same age group. However,
almost all of the sexual experience among men was premarital, whereas
almost a quarter of the young women with sexual experience had sex for the
first time only after they were married.
Figure 6:
Percent Young Adult Women (Ages15 to 24) with a Pregnancy, by Marital
Status, Age and Area of Residence
Over 40% of young adult women (ages 15–24) had experienced a pregnancy.
Almost half of those pregnancies among young adults were premarital.
The younger group was much less likely to have experienced a pregnancy (22%
of those 15–19, vs. 63% of those 20–24).
Among those with a pregnancy, women in the younger age group were slightly
less likely to have a premarital pregnancy (40% of pregnancies among 15-19-year-olds
were premarital, vs. 46% among 20-24-year-olds).
While young women in rural areas were somewhat more likely to have a
pregnancy (44%, vs. 38% in urban areas), their pregnancies were more likely
to occur within marriage (66% rural vs. 46% urban).
Figure 7:
First Pregnancies that Occurred When Woman Thought She Could Not Become
Pregnant, by Marital Status and Age at First Pregnancy, Women 15–24 Years Old
Among women aged 15–24 who had experienced their first pregnancy, 29%
thought they were not able to get pregnant at the time that they had
their first intercourse, a number that increases to 39% when intercourse
occurred before the age of 15 and to 42% when the first pregnancy was
premarital, demonstrating the need among young people for more information on
the physiology and risks of pregnancy.
Figure 8:
Reason why woman believed she could not become pregnant: Women Ages 15 to 24
As the ability to get pregnant is greater in the young adult age than at
any other time, young women who do not wish to get pregnant need to
understand their chances of becoming pregnant, yet it appears many do not.
Of those who became pregnant yet thought they would not, a quarter
thought that because they did not have frequent sexual relations they would
not get pregnant. One-fifth were told by their partner that they would not
get pregnant, and 18 percent mistakenly thought that, because it was their
first sexual experience, they could not get pregnant. Similarly misinformed,
10% thought they were not old enough, and 14% thought they were not in their
fertile period.
Figure 9:
Trends in Neonatal, Infant and Child Mortality
The infant mortality rate estimated by FESAL-2002/03 for 1997–2002
is 25 deaths for every 1,000 births. This rate reflects a decline of 10
deaths per 1,000 estimated in FESAL-98 for the period 1993–1998. Going back
in time, it is observed that for the period from 1983–1988 to 1997–2002, the
infant mortality rate decreased by 29 deaths for every 1,000 births. The
recent decline of 10 deaths by 1000 live births is due to the decrease in
post-neonatal mortality (infants aged 29 days to 11 months), which descended
from 18 to 12 per 1,000 births, as well as to the decrease in neonatal
mortality (0–28 days) which declined from 17 to 13 per 1,000 births. Today,
deaths that occur in the neonatal period make up a little more than half of
the infant mortality rate in El Salvador. In contrast, the child mortality
rate (one to four years) has dropped from 8 per 1,000 births (1993–1998) to
6 per 1,000 in 1997–2002.
Figure
10: Child Mortality by Age, and Selected Characteristics
Infant mortality (from age 0 to 11 months) is strongly associated
with socio-economic status, mother’s education, the length of time between
births, and prenatal visits. Children born to mothers in households of low
socio-economic level are nearly twice as likely to die by the age of 5 as
those born in high socio-economic households. Mother’s education also
presents a strong inverse relationship with child mortality, particularly in
the lower educational groups (below 7 years of schooling). Short birth
intervals, less than 2 years, are strongly associated with high levels of
infant mortality, while early and frequent prenatal visits are associated
with greater survival.
Figure
11: Median Duration of Breastfeeding, by Type of Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding also plays a crucial role in the health and survival
of newborns and is a widespread practice in El Salvador with 94% of babies
born in the last 5 years being breastfed. Since the FESAL-1993, the average
duration of breastfeeding has increased by 3.7 months, although the average
duration of exclusive breastfeeding is still low at 1.4 months.
Figure
12: Prevalence of Full Breastfeeding among Children Less than 6 Months
Old
While nearly half of babies are receiving their nutrition from
breastfeeding by age 6 months, only half of those (24% of infants) are being
exclusively breastfed; the other half are being fed water or other
liquids in addition to breastfeeding. Nevertheless, these figures represent
a trend in the right direction; excusive breastfeeding has increased by 8
percentage points since 1998.
Figure
13: Knowledge of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) by Sex
Although HIV/AIDS is well known among both women and men (96% of women
and 98% of men), there is substantially less knowledge about other
sexually-transmitted infections, including gonorrhea and syphilis, the
two most common STIs in El Salvador.
Figure
14: Knowledge of Methods to Prevent HIV/AIDS Transmission, by Area of
Residence, Education and Socio-economic Level, by Sex
While knowledge of HIV is almost universal, there is considerably less
knowledge of how to prevent the disease (about 60% of women and less than
half of men), and levels of this knowledge vary. Female urban residents are
better informed about HIV prevention than rural women, but urban men are
slightly less informed than rural men. Among women, greater education is
associated with greater knowledge of HIV prevention, but there is
little variation by education for men. Prevention knowledge increases with
socioeconomic status, and in every indicator women are more knowledgeable
about prevention than men.
Figure
15: Knowledge of All Three Primary Methods for Preventing HIV
Transmission, by Area of Residence and Sex
The three primary methods for preventing HIV transmission are:
abstinence, monogamous relationship, and use of condoms in all sexual
relationships. Knowledge of HIV prevention is low; only 60% of women and 46%
of men can name the three principal ways to prevent the sexual transmission
of HIV.
Figure
16: Percentage of Persons Who Correctly Responded to Whether an HIV
Positive Person can Appear Healthy and to Questions on Modes of HIV
Transmission
There is considerable misinformation about HIV although near
three-quarters of women and men know that an HIV positive person can appear
healthy, only half know that the virus cannot be transmitted by sharing
utensils, and little more than a quarter know that it cannot be transmitted
by a mosquito bite. Altogether only 18–19 percent correctly answered all
three questions.
Figure
17: School Attendance in 2002, by Age at the Beginning of 2002
Most children begin school by age 7 while some children begin late and
nearly 4% never attend at all. Abandoning school becomes critical after age
11, increasing to 20% at age 14. Repeating a grade becomes more and more
common such that by age 14 only 44 percent are in their appropriate grade
level and attending school. Approximately 30% of 14 year olds are
behind where they should be, and another 20% have abandoned school
altogether.
Figure
18: Times Repeating a Grade in School, by Age
A key factor for “falling behind” in the educational system, and
eventually dropping out, is failing and repeating a grade. This chart
shows that a number of children are at risk of this educational failure, as
by the age of 8, one fifth of children have repeated one grade, and by age
10 one fifth have repeated two grades. Although the numbers level off there,
grade repetition begins at an early age, and by the age of 14 only 60% of
children have never repeated a grade.
Page last reviewed: 9/30/08
Page last modified: 4/17/06
Content source: Division
of Reproductive Health,
National Center for Chronic
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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