On a modification of life table technique for analysis of birth interval data and its application

"This paper presents some modifications [of] the usual life table technique to analyse the data on the time of first birth and inter live birth intervals which are compiled from the birth histories of females, of varying marital durations, enumerated in a retrospective survey." The fact that a female may not be exposed to the risk of conception following childbirth or marriage, because of postpartum amenorrhea or of customs involving visits to parents, is taken into account. A method to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of the conditional risk of conception is given, and an analysis of birth intervals is presented using this technique and data for India from the Rural Development and Population Growth--A Sample Survey 1978.