Optimal birth interval of Manipuri women.

Birth interval, Lactation, Religion.

Eligible women 1008 having at least two life births in her life time were selected with the help of cluster sampling at four districts of Manipur to study the factors of birth interval of Manipuri women residing in valley area of Manipur and their interrelations with respect to various factors such as socio-economic, demographic and behavioural attitudes. The collected data were analyzed with the statistical tools like r, t, ANOVA one way and Cox's proportional hazard model. By applying classical tests, age at marriage of wife, death of previous child, sex of previous child, used of contraceptive devices and religion are found significantly different and mothers who are in the age group of 20- 25 years can have longer birth interval. Lactation, death of previous child, Religion (Hindu) and desire number of sons are also significant in the case of stepwise regression analysis.