Most of the developing economies including Pakistan are facing the problem of rapid
population growth. All the efforts to control higher population growth become useless
when the household desire larger number of children. In the study the determinants of
ideal number of children revealed by the woman are probed. So along with sociocultural,
economic, demographic and attitudinal characteristics of the household, a range of
woman characteristics like her education, working status, BMI, exposure to media,
ownership of assets, household decision-making, justification of violence and spousal age
difference are included in the model. The results have shown that woman’s education,
woman’s empowerment through household decision-making and resistance to violence
against woman and inter-spousal age difference reduce the number of desired children.
Exposure to media regarding the family planning programs has also shown negative
impact on the ideal number of children. Wealth index has also been emerged as the strong
predictor for keeping the ideal number of children low. On the other hand, son-daughter
ratio and good health of the woman proxied by BMI positively impact the ideal number
of children. From the policy perspective woman’s education, exposure to media and
woman autonomy needs specific attention at the end of family planning programs and
women development in Pakistan.