Alternative Technique for the Construction of Menarcheal Life-table

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to construct menarcheal life-table of Nepal using sample survey data. An alternative technique for the construction such as a life-table based on models has been proposed. The construction of such a life-table describes the distribution of the waiting time for getting menarche at birth as well as some specified age or age group of girls (in years). The average expected number of years to attain menarche at birth was found to be 14.8 years. Likewise, if girls who attain 12th birthday, they most likely to wait another 3.2 years for getting menarche among older birth cohort girls while it was 2.4 years among younger birth cohort girls. Only 11 % girls had attained menarche before their 13th birthday. This finding may help for planners and policy-makers to design effective policy in reproductive health and behaviors of females in a country.

Key words: menarche; life-table, recall error; memory lapse; logistic distribution

DOI: 10.3126/njst.v11i0.4146

Nepal Journal of Science and Technology 11 (2010) 199-204