Women’s Education and Modern Contraceptive Use in Ethiopia

Abstract

Women’s education and modern contraceptive use are two central issues highlighted in the Ethiopian government’s current development strategy. While the link between education and contraceptive use has been widely established in the background literature, there are few quantitative studies that explore how and why education affects the use of contraception. This study investigates the relationship between education and modern contraceptive use among a sample of 1,200 sexually active women from across Ethiopia. It uses secondary analysis of a survey conducted by Marie Stopes International Ethiopia in 2008. Through structural equation modelling it demonstrates that educational effects are fully mediated by attitudes, knowledge and access to health services. Of these, knowledge and access emerge as having the most considerable explanatory power.