There are four key problems faced by women in developing countries: giving birth too early, too late, too many times, or too soon. Women who give birth before they turn 18 are at higher risk of death from pregnancy-related causes, as are women over 35. Women who have too many children are also at risk; women who have a child too soon after giving birth to a previous child are themselves at risk, as are their newborns.
Birth spacing is a critical component of family planning: Children born more than 2 years after their closest sibling are nearly 2.5 times more likely to survive to age 5 than those born 18 months or less after their closest sibling. (Rutstein et al, 2005) With fewer births, further between, their mothers are also much more likely to survive childbirth. (Davanzo et al, 2004) Although these risks exist for women in developed countries, they are orders of magnitude higher in countries where women face malnutrition, lack of access to clean water, lack of access to appropriate medical care, and other prevalent illnesses like HIV infections and malaria.
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