Introduction: Monitoring levels and long-term trends of socio-demographic and health indicators
are particularly important for developing countries with high economic disparities
as well as for assessing the progress of the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals. This study assessed levels, trends and disparities of selected socio-demographic
and health-related indicators among ever married women by using the data of five nationally
representative and comparable surveys (in terms of sample size and study design) of
the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 1993–94, 1996–1997, 1999–2000,
2004 and 2007. Methods: Relevant data were extracted for some common demographic and health-related indicators
using SPSS 17.0. All selected indicators (either by mean or percentage) were compared
by the lowest (poorest) and highest (richest) quintiles of wealth index. Results: Indicators reflecting e.g. urbanisation, electricity possession, media access, age
at first marriage, contraception, antenatal care services especially from a doctor,
receiving tetanus injection before giving birth, child vaccinations (DPT/polio/measles),
and overweight/obesity showed positive trends during 1993–2007. In contrast, indicators
like education, fertility (e.g. children born and alive), child mortality, home delivery,
and malnutrition/underweight revealed negative trends. However, increasing and decreasing
paces varied by indicators and two extreme quintiles. For instance, the speed of urbanisation
was very rapid only for the richest quintile but not for the poorest. Illiteracy declined
in both quintiles but with higher declining pace in the lowest quintile. Although
remarkable gaps were found for almost all indicators, gaps for urbanization, electricity,
television, children born, condom use, and home delivery increased in 2007 as compared
to 1993–94. In contrast, gaps declined for education, sterilization, and children
vaccination. Conclusion: Although Bangladesh has achieved remarkable progress in socio-demographic and health
sectors, gaps are still increasing between the poorest and richest women. Therefore
development strategies in Bangladesh should target the poorest women to narrow the
gaps of socio-demographic and health-related indicators.
