Abstract

Background Ethiopia is one of the most populous countries in Africa Among currently married women 22 of them had unmet need for family planning Due to this unwanted pregnancies and abortion is wide spread And it is the leading causes of maternal mortality The Amhara Regional State is characterized by a high level of fertility rate of 5 1 children per women of reproductive age and low level of contraceptive use that is 9 1 Method Community based quantitative cross- sectional study was conducted in Finoteselam district Northwest Ethiopia A total of 360 61 1 urban 38 9 rural women were proportionally included from April 2016- May 2016 A Stratified random sampling technique was carried out for sample selection A pretested structured interview questionnaire was the main instrument used for data collection Result The median age at first marriage in the study area was found to be 17 years Average number of children desired in the study area was 4 8 Unmet need for family planning in the study area was 29 7 of which 18 9 for spacing and 10 8 for limiting of child birth Among the non-users of family planning 25 2 did not use due to husbands opposition 22 4 did not use due to religion prohibition 18 7 did not use due to desire to have more children to use family planning Thirty percent of women with unmet need for family planning had intention to use family planning in the near future The contraceptive prevalence rate of the study area was 28 3 Among respondents who discontinued use of contraception was 16 7 mentioned desire to have more children 15 3 preference method was not available 9 8 health concern and side effects Conclusion Knowledge about contraception family size place of residence and husband s attitude towards contraception were found to be determinants of unmet need for contraception More over maximize access to good quality services improving the quality of family planning services and making contraceptives eas