Age and correlates of adoption of contraceptive measures: an empirical study

India adopted Family Welfare Programme more than six decades ago becoming first country in the world to officially adopt such programme to control her burgeoning population. In spite of huge budgetary allocation in all the Five Year Plans to arrest population growth, ever rising human number continues to pose a challenge. Experience of Family Welfare in India during twentieth century suggests that eligible couple is a determinant factor to control growing population. Therefore, this study was conducted in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh with the objective to understand the relationship of actual age of eligible couples and their age at marriage with adoption of contraceptive measures. Necessary information was elicited from 470 respondents with the help of an interview schedule and also through Focus Group Discussions. It was discernible that three fourth of the eligible couple adopt one or the other contraception. Chi-square test on the age of females at marriage and adoption/non-adoption of family planning measures has shown to have a materially significant relationship.