Factors affecting knowledge regarding unmet need on fertile aged women in Indonesia: evaluation of 2012 and 2017 IDHS

Background: The Family Planning (FP) Program is a national method of controlling population growth rates while improving maternal and child health. Indonesia, as one of the largest countries, has abysmally low contraceptive coverage. One of its main issues is unmet contraceptive needs. This study aims to determine the factors that influence women's unmet need of childbearing age (WCA) in Indonesia. Methods: We performed an unpaired comparative analytic study with a cross-sectional method was conducted on secondary data obtained from 2012 to 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS). The subjects in this study were all women of childbearing age (15–49 years). Subjects with incomplete data were excluded from the study. Unmet need was defined as WCA who did not use contraception but decline to have more children or wanted to delay their pregnancies. Chi-square analysis was performed on categorical data and Mann–Whitney U analysis on numerical data. Result: A total of 45,607 WCA in the 2012 IDHS data and 29,627 WCA in the 2017 IDHS data were included in the study. In the 2012 IDHS data, factors influencing unmet needs were age (p = 0.023) and parity (p < 0.0001). In the 2017 IDHS data, factors influencing unmet needs were the residential area (p = 0.003), level of education (p = 0.008), level of spouse’s education (p < 0.0001), employment status (p = 0.03), possession of electricity (p = 0.001), and possession of television (p = 0.01). Conclusion: Factors affecting unmet needs are age, parity, residential area, level of education, level of spouse’s education, employment status, possession of television, and possession of electricity. There were no recurring factors on 2012 and 2017 IDHS data.