FACTORS UNDERLYING UNMET NEED FOR FAMILY-PLANNING IN THE PHILIPPINES

The prevalence of unmet need for family planning is a primary justific ation for family planning programs, but the causes of unmet need have not been much explored. This article investigates four explanations fo r unmet need: (1) as an artifact of inaccurate measurement of fertilit y preferences and contraceptive practice; (2) as a reflection of weakl y held fertility preferences; (3) as a result of women's perceiving th emselves to be at low risk of conceiving; (4) as due to excessive cost s of contraception. The explanations are examined using quantitative a nd qualitative data collected in 1993 from currently married women and their husbands in two provinces in the Philippines. The results indic ate that the preference-behavior discrepancy commonly termed ''unmet n eed'' is not an artifact of survey measurement. The most important fac tors accounting for this discrepancy are the strength of women's repro ductive preferences, husbands' fertility preferences, and the perceive d detrimental side effects of contraception. Inaccessible family plann ing services appear to carry little weight in this setting. Modificati on of services to make them more attentive to other obstacles to contr aceptive use would improve their effectiveness in reducing unmet need.