Table 1 Descriptions of independent variables

Age (years)

Women were asked about their current age. For the analysis, age has been classified into three categories: 15–24 years old, 25–34 years old and 35–49 years old.

1 = 15–24 years, 2 = 25–34 years and 3 = 35–49 years

Education

Women were asked about the number of years they had spent in school. We considered this indicator as level of education which is classified into four categories: No education, Primary, Secondary, and Higher

1 = No education, 2 = Primary, 3 = Secondary and 4 = Higher

Religion

Women were asked about their religion which was recorded as Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist/Neo Buddhist, Jain, Jew, Parsi/Zoroastrian, Others, and no religion. We classified the religious category into three categories: Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Others

1 = Hindu, 2 = Muslim 3 = Christian and

4 = Others

Marital Status

In the NFHS-5, women were asked about their marital status which was recorded as “never in union”, “married”, “living with a partner”, “widowed”, “divorced”, or “no longer living together/separated”. We have classified marital status is classified into three categories: Unmarried (if the woman had never been in a union), Married (if the woman married and living with her partner), and Others (if the woman widowed, divorced no longer living together/separated).

1 = Unmarried, 2 = Married and 3 = Others.

Wealth index

NFHS-5 assessed household wealth using wealth scores derived from principal component analysis, considering indicators such as consumer goods ownership and housing features. Following this, households were divided into five equal groups, known as quintiles or wealth quintiles. The wealth quintiles were further categorized into 20% each, including the Poorest, Poorer, Middle, Richer, and Richest. We have used these indicators as provided within the datasets.

1 = Poorest, 2 = Poorer, 3 = Middle, 4 = Richer and 5 = Richest

Region

NFHS-5 provided the states category and we have classified the states into geographical regions based on direction. The geographical region is classified into six regions: North, Central, East, Northeast, West and South.

1 = North, 2 = Central,

3 = East, 4 = Northeast, 5 = West and 6 = South.

Residence

The place of residence of women is recorded as Urban and Rural. Thus, we have considered these categories as places of residence: Urban and Rural

1 = Urban and 2 = Rural

Number of living children

Women were asked about the number of children who are alive which is classified into three: No children, 1–2 and 3 or more than 3.

0 = No children, 1 = 1–2 and 2 = 3 or more

Husband/partner’s education level

Women were asked about their husband/partners’ educational status, specifically the number of years they had spent in school. We considered this indicator as a level of education, which was classified into four categories: No education, Primary, Secondary, and Higher.

0 = No education, 1 = Primary, 2 = Secondary, and 3 = Higher

Knowledge of any contraceptive method

Women were asked about contraceptive methods by “knowledge of any method” and options were “knows no method”, “knows only folkloric method”, “knows only traditional method” and “knows modern method”. We have categorised into three: No method, Traditional method folkloric method and traditional), Modern method

0 = No method, 1 = Traditional method, and

2 = Modern method

Current use by method type

In NFHS-5 women were asked about “current use by method type” and responses were recorded as “no method”, “folkloric method”, “traditional method”, and “modern method”. We have classified into three categories: No method, Traditional method (folkloric method and traditional), Modern method

0 = No method, 1 = Traditional method, and

2 = Modern method

Exposure to Mass Media

Women were asked about their exposure to different mass media such as “frequency of reading newspaper or magazine”, “frequency of listening to radio”, and “frequency of reading newspaper or magazine” and options were “not at all”, “less than once a week” and “at least once a week”. We have used these variables as exposure to media and classified them in “No” and “Yes”.

0 = Not Exposed and 1 = Exposed

Digital Literacy

NFHS-5 recorded several information that may derived the knowledge of digital accessibility such as “owns a mobile telephone”, “use a mobile telephone for financial transactions”, “have you ever used the internet?”, “are you able to read text (SMS) messages?” and responses are coded as “No” and “Yes”. Further, we have used these variables as digital literacy and categorised as no and yes.

0 = No and 1 = Yes