Table 3: Summary of findings: some improvements but trends have been mostly stagnant or regressive

|**Variable**|**Afghanistan**|**Bangladesh**|**India**|**Maldives**|**Nepal**|**Pakistan**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Employment (% working)|12%|48%|24%|42%|57%|17%|
|Decadal change (percentage points)|-2|2|-4|-1|-7|0.3|
|Education (yrs. of education)|1.2|5.6|6.9|9.5|5.2|4.4|
|Decadal change (months)|5|15|15|40|17|11|
|Marriage age (yrs.)|17.9|16|18.3|20.4|17.7|19.4|
|Decadal change (months)|-6|9|5|15|7|1|
|Age at first birth (yrs.)|19.3|18|20.3|22.1|19.8|21.3|
|Decadal change (months)|-7|2|2|8|-1|-4|
|Son preference (% preferring more boys as ideal)|42%|10%|19%|10%|20%|29%|
|Decadal change (percentage points)|-2|-7|-4|0.7|-12|-2|
|Agency (% having say in 1 or more decisions)|64%|88%|84%|97%|73%|61%|
|Decadal change (percentage points)|-6|-1|-2|-1|-10|-13|
|Spousal difference in age (yrs.)|5.3|8|4.7|3.6|4.2|4.6|
|Decadal change (months)|-6|-11|-3|-6|-4|-0.2|
|Spousal difference in education (yrs.)|2.4|0|1.5|-0.8|2.2|2.1|
|Decadal change (months)|0.1|-8|-5|-5|-0.4|0.2|
|Fertility (actual minus ideal # of children)|-0.1|0.8|0.5|-0.2|1|0.4|
|Decadal change (number)|0.3|-0.6|-0.1|-0.1|-0.1|-0.1|
|IPV experience (% reporting)|7%|13%*|6%|2%|6%|4%|
|Decadal change(percentagepoints)|-0.02|-0.04|-0.1|-1|-3|0.2|

Source: DHS rounds (see, for details, table A2 in the annex). Notes: for each outcome variable, the table reports two rows of numbers. The first row represents the most recent level of the variable, and the second row shows the decadal changes. The levels, in the first rows, are calculated as averages across the full DHS population (i.e. 15 to 50 years old ever married women), and for the most recent survey year; for Afghanistan (AFG) this is the year 2015, for Bangladesh (BGD) is 2017/18, for India (IND) is 2015/16, for Maldives (MDV) is 2016/17, for Nepal (NPL) is 2016/17, and for Pakistan (PAK) is 2017/2018. The * in the cell of IPV for Bangladesh indicates that this value is for 2007, which is the only year for which IPV experience was collected. The decadal changes, in the second row of each variable, are calculated as the difference between two numbers – the average for a recent cohort (mostly women born in 1990) minus the average calculated for an early cohort (mostly women born in 1950) – divided by 4 (the number of decades between 1950 and 1990). Depending on the variable, the decadal change is expressed in percentage points or fraction (months) of a year. The font color of the numbers for the decadal changes, rather than their sign, guides the interpretation of the change. Red means that a specific outcome has worsened in these decades, dark orange means stagnation, and green signals an improvement. There are some exceptions to the birth years used for the calculations of the decadal change. For Afghanistan, for the variable ‘age at first marriage’ the cohorts considered are those of women born in 1970 versus 1990, for fertility outcome, the cohorts are those of 1965 and 1975, for IPV experience, they are 1970 and 1990; and for the remaining variables the cohorts are those of 1965 and 1995. For Maldives, the 1960 and 1990 cohorts are used to calculate the decadal difference in agency (these are also the cohorts used for agency for Bangladesh, India, and Nepal) and IPV justification; the 1960 and 1970 cohorts are used for the decadal change in fertility outcome, the 1970 and 1990 ones for IPV experience; for the remaining variables, the 1960 and 1990 cohorts are used. For Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, 1950 and 1970 are used to calculate the decadal change in fertility outcome, and 1970 and 1990 for IPV justification. For Pakistan, 1970 and 1990 are used to calculate the decadal change in IPV justification.

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