This paper examines urban-rural differences in the fertility of Pakistani women, as shown by the 1975 Pakistan Fertility Survey, part of the World Fertility Survey. The urban fertility rates were slightly higher than the rural rates. Urban marital fertility exceeded rural marital fertility at the younger reproductive ages, mainly on account of shorter duration of breast-feeding, which reduces birth intervals, but fell below it at the older reproductive ages. The beginnings of parity-specific birth control are discernible at the older reproductive ages in urban areas.

This paper presents information on the incidence of hysterectomy and tubal ligation in South Australia in the period 1980–82, and on the age, marital status and ethnicity of women undergoing these procedures in public hospitals during the period. A typical woman undergoing one of these procedures was married or previously married and in her mid-40s for hysterectomy or mid-30s for tubal ligation. South Australian women had a lifetime chance of one in six of undergoing hysterectomy and of one in five of undergoing tubal ligation. The findings are consonant with the suggestion that increasing numbers of women are choosing forms of sterilization as means of contraception.

A demographic survey among a probability sample of 980 married migrant women was carried out in Sydney in 1988. The sample included 507 Lebanese, 250 Turkish and 223 Vietnamese women. The study revealed differences in family formation patterns within and between the three groups and between them and the general population. Family size had declined among all three groups compared with their family of origin, and it was clear that the younger women would not achieve the same family sizes as the older women. Migrant women tended to marry earlier than the general population and to start their families earlier. While they showed a strong preference for their children to marry within their own ethnic and religious group, nearly one-third said it was up to the choice of the individual. Overall, the future family size of younger migrant women is expected to converge towards the Australian norm. Migrant families are in a state of transition between two cultures which needs to be recognised by health and family planning service providers.

This paper describes the origins and size of the Muslim population in Australia, at present about 1% of the total population. Their age distribution is younger and their sociodemographic characteristics are different from those of the rest of the Australian population.

This paper examines the current use of contraception among a sample of 6646 married women of reproductive age interviewed during 1972–73 in metropolitan and country areas of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The analysis shows that contraception is widely practised in all segments of the population, though to a lesser extent among the Catholic women and those born is southern Europe. In conjunction with now easily available induced abortion, this has resulted in a precipitous drop in the annual number of marital births.

A new set of abridged life tables for Pakistan is presented. Data from the 1971 Population Growth Survey were first analysed to estimate the degree of completeness of the reporting of male and female deaths; female deaths were substantially more under-reported than male deaths. Age–sex specific mortality schedules were adjusted accordingly.

Life expectancy was around 50 years at birth, but increased by 8–9 years for those surviving the substantial risks of dying in the first year of life. No significant sex differential in mortality could be discerned from the life tables.

This paper examines the current fertility (1971–72) of migrant women in Australia, in order to compare the fertility levels and patterns prevalent among migrants from nine selected countries with those of the Australian born women. Birth registration data have been mainly used in the analysis.

Three main points emerge. Among the married women there were few differences in fertility regardless of the country of birth. A major exception was the somewhat higher fertility levels among the southern European migrants. Extramarital fertility seemed to vary substantially between different migrant groups: New Zealanders had the highest and the Italians and Greeks had the lowest levels. There were major differences in the proportion of women married among the various migrant groups; again the southern Europeans had highest proportions married. Comparison of the reproductive behaviour of migrants with their counterparts in the countries of origin showed that the southern European migrants in Australia had higher fertility rates than those prevalent in their countries of origin.

Official statistics on abortion in South Australia for the period 1971–86 are analysed in terms of incidence, age of patients and nuptiality, reasons for abortion, method of termination, period of gestation, previous abortions and concurrent sterilisation. Demographic implications are discussed and recommendations are made for more education and counselling, especially for younger and unmarried women for whom the incidence of abortion seems to be rising.

This study examines data from 47,238 episodes of hospitalization in New South Wales, Australia, pertaining to the patients suffering from mental disorders, i.e. those patients with a principal diagnosis coded from 290 to 315 inclusive, according to the 8th revision of the International Classification of Diseases.

An overall prevalence of nine episodes of hospitalization due to mental disorders was found per 1000 population per annum. Major disease categories were neuroses and alcoholism (each accounting for 21% of the total episodes) followed by schizophrenia (16%) and affective psychosis (11%); there were substantial differences by age, sex, marital status and ethnic origin.

Some recent data are presented on the size and selected sociodemographic characteristics of the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan. Although the official figures show that there were 3·27 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, it is estimated that the actual number may be as high as 3·6 million. There is an excess of females over males, mainly due to war-related activities and excessive casualties particularly among males. While infant and childhood mortality rates are declining and are lower than the levels prevalent in Pakistan, as well as in Afghanistan during the prewar period, the fertility levels among Afghan refugees seem very high indeed.

Surveys carried out in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1963 and 1980 showed that most women have some knowledge of contraception. The proportion who had ever used contraception rose from 7% of respondents in 1963 to 48% in 1980. The rate of current use in 1980 was 34%. Highest rates of use were found among women aged 30 years or older and among those of higher education and socioeconomic status. The most commonly used methods of family planning were the condom, the pill and abstinence.

This paper examines the official abortion statistics for South Australia since the legalization of abortion in January 1970. The incidence of abortion is shown to be increasing steadily—in 1976 more than half of the extramarital pregnancies were terminated and the overall ratio of abortions to live births was nearly 1:6. Most abortion patients were single, young women. Comparison of fertility levels in South Australia with the rest of Australia shows that the fertility decline has been much more rapid in South Australia, suggesting that unless the South Australian women are more efficient users of contraception than other Australian women, a significant proportion of the fertility decline in South Australia has to be attributed to legalized abortion.

This study examines data from 15,172 episodes of hospitalization pertaining to Aboriginal Australians discharged from public and private hospitals in New South Wales during 1978. Morbidity patterns revealed provide quantitative evidence on a whole population basis for the often impressionistic statements of those dealing with limited areas or with specific diseases.

Respiratory diseases are by far the most common and their occurrence seems to be out of proportion in relation to other diagnoses. Gastrointestinal and diarrhoeal diseases are important among young children, alcoholism among men, and diabetes among older people of both sexes. The most common surgical procedures involved abdomen, female genitals and ear, nose and throat.

It was noted that for most disease categories Aborigines were more likely to be hospitalized than non-Aborigines, the major exception being neoplasms. On the other hand, Aborigines were significantly less likely to be hospitalized for surgical operations. Overall, Aborigines were found to suffer higher levels of ill-health primarily due to their depressed economic conditions and social exclusion as well as racial discrimination to which they are commonly subjected in Australia.

Official abortion statistics for South Australia for the years 1977–81 were examined and compared with those for 1970–76 reported earlier. The period 1970–81 represents the first 12 years' experience of legalized abortion in South Australia. A consistent increase in the incidence of abortion was noted, both in absolute numbers and in proportion to the number of live births. South Australia continued to experience lower fertility than other Australian states, although this would have been higher than in other states had it not been for the legalization of abortion. More of the younger and the unmarried women were obtaining abortions, indicating that they were increasingly using abortion as a form of birth control.

This paper examines the results of the 1971 Population Growth Survey in Pakistan and attempts to reassess the fertility and infant mortality levels utilizing some unpublished data on children ever born and proportion surviving. These adjusted fertility and infant mortality rates show that there has been hardly any decline in the fertility and infant mortality levels in Pakistan during the decade ending in 1971.

The purpose of this paper is to review the patterns of contraceptive use in Australia, using data from a nationally representative sample of 5872 women aged 18 to 49. This survey was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2001 as part of the National Health Survey. Results of the analysis indicate that the oral contraceptive pill and condom were the two most frequently used methods. More than 76% of the respondents reported having ever used the pill. Over 23% of women were currently using condoms; of these 80% of the condom users used them for contraception – this included 36% who used condoms for both protection against infection and for contraception – and the remainder used them only for protection. Withdrawal was the third most popular non-surgical method up to age 40. Few women used IUDs, injections or diaphragms. Just over 3% of the respondents were using natural methods with the highest rate reported among those in their 30s. The ‘morning-after pill’ was reported mostly by women aged 18–24; however, there was no evidence to suggest that it was being used as a primary method of birth control. Contraceptive use declined in older women who turned to sterilization for themselves and/or their partners. Use of the contraceptive pill was somewhat higher among better-educated women, but lower among less-educated women and those from non-English-speaking backgrounds.