NATALITY IN ECUADOR 1990-2017: CORRELATION AND REGRESSION WITH THE IMPORT OF CONDOMS AND HORMONAL CONTRACEPTIVES

Abstract

Preventing the uncontrolled population growth and the potential negative effects on the people of a territory, has become one of the priorities of many countries. Its maneuvering is based on implementing public policy regarding family planning; however, family planning alone is not enough. To be efficient and achieve the desired impact on population control, it is necessary to guarantee the market availability of contraceptive methods (products). In this sense, the present study aims to measure the association and the dependency of contraceptives imports in population control. The time frame is centered between 1990 and 2017, a period in which the association between the number of births and the imports (in tons) of prophylactics and hormonal contraceptives in Ecuador is analyzed using Pearson's correlations, and the dependence using linear regressions. The results show that there is a correlation between the variables import of condoms and import of hormonal contraceptive methods, with the reduction or increase in the number of births in Ecuador. Likewise, it is evident that the variable import of hormonal contraceptives explains to a greater extent the number of newborns, compared to variable import of condoms.