Correlates of age at first birth among women in Ethiopia: use of multilevel survival analysis models

INTRODUCTION: the timing of birth of the first child has a direct relationship with fertility in general and health and future career including further education of a mother in particular. The objective of this study was to identify factors significantly associated with the time to the first birth among women in Ethiopia. METHODS: a cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). The study subjects were married women and men aged 15 to 49 in randomly selected households across Ethiopia and two stage stratified random sampling technique was used to select study subjects. Log logistic-Gamma shared frailty model was used to identify factors associated with the length of time spent until the first birth. RESULTS: the median age at first birth for women living in Ethiopia was 20 years, whereas the minimum and maximum ages at first birth were 11 and 49 years respectively. Age at first sex, age at first cohabitation, sex of household head, place of residence, religion, education level, contraceptive use and exposure to media were significant correlates of age at first birth of women in Ethiopia. Higher level of education was associated with increased age at first birth. Women who use contraceptive, women living in urban areas, women having exposure to media and female headed households had longer time to first birth compared to their counterparts. CONCLUSION: the different regions of Ethiopia have significant differences in the age of women during their first birth. Most of the factors associated with the time to first child in this study were related to education of women. Investing in education and educating women plays critical roles in regulating fertility of a nation and health of women.