Table 2

Socio-demographic characteristics of ever or currently married women, Nigeria 2003*

Measure/variable
Weighted sample (percentage)

Dependent variable

Early sexual debut (15 years or less)

     Yes
2755 (48.4)
     No
2937 (51.6)
Individual characteristics

Age (completed years)

     15 – 24
1523 (26.8)
     25 – 34
2106 (37.0)
     35+
2063 (36.2)
Education

     No education
3044 (53.5)
     Primary
1266 (22.2)
     Secondary or higher
1381 (24.3)
Ethnicity

     Hausa/Fulani
2387 (41.9)
     Igbo
582 (10.2)
     Yoruba
535 (9.4)
     Others
2168 (38.1)
Religion

     Christian
2156 (37.9)
     Islam
3444 (60.5)
     Others
89 (1.6)
Community characteristics

Type of residence

     Rural
3907 (68.6)
     Urban
1785 (31.4)
Community ethnic diversity, Mean (SE)
3.7 (0.09)
Community median age of marriage, Mean (SE)
16.2 (0.11)
Community median spousal age gap, Mean (SE)
9.7 (0.08)
Geopolitical region

     North-central
807 (14.2)
     North-east
1197 (21.2)
     North-west
1949 (34.2)
     South-east
396 (7.0)
     South-south
764 (13.4)
     South-west
579 (10.2)

Abbreviation – SE – Standard Error

Number of ethnic group in a community, represents the likelihood that two persons, chosen at random from the same area, belong to different ethnic group

*Data source – 2003 Nigerian Demographic and Survey. Sample size – 5531

Uthman International Journal of Health Geographics 2008 7:27   doi:10.1186/1476-072X-7-27