The distribution of the usage of menstrual materials (traditional and modern) by sociodemographic variables (categorical and continuous) among women aged 15–49 years from the MICS 2019
| Sociodemographic variables | Group | N (%) of all study participants | N (%) of menstrual material used | P value | |
| Traditional | Modern | ||||
| Area of residence | Rural | 43 339 (79.9) | 34 592 (79.8) | 8711 (20.1) | <0.001 |
| Urban | 10 903 (20.1) | 6460 (59.2) | 4443 (40.8) | ||
| Age of women (mean (SD)) | 29.0 (9.26) | ||||
| Education level of women | No education or pre-primary | 7546 (13.9) | 7361 (97.5) | 185 (2.5) | <0.001 |
| Primary | 12 103 (22.3) | 11 332 (93.6) | 771 (6.4) | ||
| Secondary | 25 312 (46.7) | 18 878 (74.6) | 6434 (25.4) | ||
| Higher secondary or above | 9281 (17.1) | 3481 (37.5) | 5800 (62.5) | ||
| Household Wealth Index | Poorest | 10 964 (20.2) | 10 193 (93.0) | 771 (7.0) | <0.001 |
| Poorer | 11 087 (20.4) | 9909 (89.4) | 1178 (10.6) | ||
| Middle | 11 425 (21.1) | 9254 (81.0) | 2171 (19.0) | ||
| Richer | 11 129 (20.5) | 7631 (68.6) | 3498 (31.4) | ||
| Richest | 9637 (17.8) | 4065 (42.2) | 5572 (57.8) | ||
| Division | Dhaka | 11 147 (20.6) | 7674 (68.8) | 3473 (31.2) | <0.001 |
| Barishal | 4602 (8.5) | 3522 (76.5) | 1080 (23.5) | ||
| Chattogram | 10 033 (18.5) | 7336 (73.1) | 2697 (26.9) | ||
| Khulna | 8332 (15.4) | 6022 (72.3) | 2310 (27.7) | ||
| Mymensingh | 2910 (5.4) | 2519 (86.6) | 391 (13.4) | ||
| Rajshahi | 6349 (11.7) | 5074 (79.9) | 1275 (20.1) | ||
| Rangpur | 6465 (11.9) | 5435 (84.1) | 1030 (15.9) | ||
| Sylhet | 4404 (8.1) | 3470 (78.8) | 934 (21.2) | ||
| Age of household head (mean (SD)) | 45.9 (12.91) | ||||
| Sex of household head | Male | 48 401 (89.2) | 36 956 (76.4) | 11 445 (23.6) | <0.001 |
| Female | 5841 (10.8) | 4096 (70.1) | 1745 (29.9) | ||
| Education level of household head | No education or preprimary | 17 833 (32.9) | 15 400 (86.4) | 2433 (13.6) | <0.001 |
| Primary | 15 258 (28.1) | 12 542 (82.2) | 2716 (17.8) | ||
| Secondary | 14 697 (27.1) | 10 222 (69.6) | 4475 (30.4) | ||
| Higher secondary or above | 6454 (11.9) | 2888 (44.7) | 3566 (55.3) | ||
| Reading newspaper (weekly) | Never reads | 49 948 (92.1) | 39 745 (79.6) | 10 203 (20.4) | <0.001 |
| Reads | 4294 (7.9) | 1307 (30.4) | 2987 (69.6) | ||
| Listening to radio (weekly) | Never listens | 53 068 (97.8) | 40 576 (76.5) | 12 492 (23.5) | <0.001 |
| Listens | 1174 (2.2) | 476 (40.5) | 698 (59.5) | ||
| Watching television (weekly) | Never watches | 18 529 (34.2) | 16 225 (87.6) | 2304 (12.4) | <0.001 |
| Watches | 35 713 (65.8) | 24 827 (69.5) | 10 886 (30.5) | ||
| Internet Use (within last 3 months) | Did not use | 49 206 (90.7) | 38 953 (79.2) | 10 253 (20.8) | <0.001 |
| Used | 6398 (9.3) | 2099 (41.7) | 2937 (58.3) | ||
| Ownership of mobile phone | Does not own | 16 199 (29.9) | 13 452 (83.0) | 2747 (17.0) | <0.001 |
| Owns | 38 043 (70.1) | 27 600 (72.5) | 10 443 (27.5) | ||
| Women’s access to media | Without access | 170 206 (31.7) | 15 400 (89.5) | 1806 (10.5) | <0.001 |
| With access | 37 036 (68.6) | 25 652 (69.3) | 11 384 (30.7) | ||
| Total sample size | N | 54 242 | 41 052 (75.7) | 13 190 (24.3) | |
MICS, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey.