The 2012-13 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) is the third in the
series of Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in Pakistan. The earlier two
surveys were carried out in 1990-91 and 2006-07. The 2012-13 PDHS, like the
previous two surveys, was also carried out by the National Institute of Population
Studies (NIPS). The field survey for the 2012-13 PDHS followed a centralised three
weeks training of the field staff. The field survey was carried out from the first week
of October 2012 through March 2013, with the exception of one team in Balochistan
that completed the survey in the third week of April 2013. Teams visited 498 sample
points across Pakistan and collected data from a national and sub-national
representative sample of 12,943 households. All ever-married women age 15-49 in
the selected households and ever-married men age 15-49 in a subsample of 5,000
households (both de jure and de facto) were eligible for individual interviews.
The 2012-13 PDHS was designed to provide data to monitor the population and
health situation in Pakistan. The explicit goal was to provide reliable information
about maternal and child health and family planning. The PDHS specifically
collected information on fertility levels, marriage, fertility preferences, awareness
and use of family planning methods, child feeding practices, childhood mortality,
and maternal and child health. Data was also collected on nutritional status,
awareness and attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS, knowledge about other illnesses such
as tuberculosis, Hepatitis-B and C, and domestic violence. Some of this information
was also collected from ever-married men.
This preliminary report presents the results of selected key indicators from the 2012-
13 PDHS. A comprehensive report on the findings of the survey will be published in
September 2013. Although the figures in this preliminary report are not expected to
differ much from the findings to be presented in the final report, the results shown
here should be considered provisional and interpreted with caution.