Lahore: More than 21% of ever-married women in Punjab report having five or more children, according to a recent baseline survey by the Punjab Health and Population Survey (PHPS) 2024-25. The survey, which engaged 19,536 ever-married women aged 15-49 across 36 districts, highlights significant disparities in childbearing patterns across the province.

According to the Gilani Research Foundation, the survey results indicate that high parity—defined as having five or more children—is notably prevalent in the province’s lagging districts, with 27.3% of women reporting this number compared to 20.1% in non-lagging districts. The survey also reveals that 12.6% of women in Punjab have not yet begun childbearing, while 30.0% have one or two children and 36.0% have three or four.

The survey data, analyzed in partnership with Gallup Pakistan, shows that the mean number of children ever born ranges from 2.4 in Attock to 3.7 in Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan. This 1.3-child spread is narrower than the variations seen in other social indicators such as education and consanguineous marriage. The findings suggest that while childbearing patterns vary across districts, the differences are less pronounced than those in educational attainment or marriage practices.

The survey underscores that rural areas have a higher incidence of high parity (23.6%) compared to urban areas (18.4%). Meanwhile, childlessness remains relatively consistent across different areas, with provincial figures showing 12.6% of women without children, a pattern not significantly affected by whether districts are classified as lagging or non-lagging.

The survey’s insights into fertility patterns reveal that while there are geographic variations, the differences are less stark than other demographic indicators. This suggests that strategies to address family size may need to be more nuanced and not solely based on geographic targeting, unlike approaches for education and marriage age.