Changes in acceptors' and users' ages: A test of an explanatory mechanism

Summary Acceptors in national family planning programmes are becoming steadily younger, with fewer children. In the present analysis, which makes use of the computerized component projection scheme CONVERSE, it is shown that saturation of the older groups with users has a relatively minor role to play in reducing the mean age of new acceptors. Even where acceptance and continuation rates are high and follow the usual pattern of higher levels for the older women, the build-up of users in the upper age groups is not enough to produce major changes in the age of acceptors. Yet acceptor ages have fallen consistently and sharply in most national programmes, regardless of the general strength, duration, or method mix. The finding that the mechanical effects investigated here play rather a small part in the large empirical declines in acceptor ages suggests the need to investigate other explanations. For this, a critical need is more data than are at present available on trends in age-specific rates of acceptance in national programmes.