The exclusion of never-married women from Chinese fertility surveys.

ABSTRACT

PIP: It is argued that exclusion of the never married from Chinese fertility surveys eliminates consideration of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and factors that might indicate future changes in fertility or contraceptive use. Never married persons are important as providers of information on sexual activity and sexually transmitted diseases. Asia may replace Africa as a major transmission site for HIV infection by the year 2000. Official Chinese reports indicated 2594 HIV-infected persons in 1995, but actual numbers could be as high as 100,000 persons. Information about social networks and sexual activity can be helpful in predicting the potential for spread of HIV. Economic reforms are expected to impact on patterns of marriage and sexual behavior. Although the 1982 One-per-thousand Population Fertility Sampling Survey included married and unmarried women, it excluded women aged 15-19 years. Reproductive histories were not collected from unmarried women. The 1985 and 1987 In-Depth Fertility Surveys only collected reproductive histories among ever married women aged 15-49. The 1992 National Sex Civilization Survey of sexual behavior was limited to the currently married. The only survey of sexual activity among the never married was conducted among college students in Shanghai, but six universities refused to participate. There is no nationally representative fertility survey of the Chinese population that includes the never married. 1990 Census findings indicate that 25% of population aged 15 years or older were never married. There were 194 million never married persons aged 15-30 years in 1990, or 95% of the 205 million never married persons. The proportion of those never married is likely to increase. Lessons from Taiwan and the US indicate the difficulties in measuring premarital sexual behavior, but there are compelling reasons to collect information on sexual behavior and reproductive health.