Abstract:
The rapid population growth is a current problem in the world today. Many countries
have formulated policies to lower their levels of fertility and established birth control
programs. The population growth in Sri Lanka has decreased, but there are some
diferences of fertility rates in two ethnic groups. The Muslim fertility rate was higher than
that of Sinhalese. The reason for that is the the birth control has been accepted in two
different ways by the two ethnic groups. Under this point, considerable differences can be
observed in two ethnic groups due to acceptance of family planning methods in two
different ways.
Many surveys were conducted in Sri Lanka for examine contraceptive knowledge and
it’s usage. But there hasn’t been conducted any survey to study the influence of etnicity
The objective of the study is to understand the differences of adoption of contrceptive
methods in two etnic groups; the Sinhala women and the Muslims. To fulfil this objective,
Sinhala / Muslim in rural/ urban sectors were considred selecting four Grama Niladhari
Divisions from three Divisional Secretariat Divisions in Matara District.
Firstly, the ideas and concepts of birth control appearing in the Sinhala Buddhist books,
i.e. Jathaka Stories, and Muslim - Islam books, i.e. A1 Qur’an, were studied. Secondly, a
questionnaire was used for collecting data in the field to examine the family planning
knowledge and its uses.
It unravels that the Buddhist philosophy and Suthra of Thtipitakaya have not mentioned
any religious burden practicing contraception. The Muslims find all solutions and all
answers to their problems in A1 Qur’an. But in Islamic laws merits and demerits of family
planning are measured by the Qur’an., as it is the main source. Muslim have to stick
strictly to their religious tradition and culture. The Qur;an never talks about the control and
breeding of their community. Temporary family planning is accepted under the way
limitation and laws, but permanent family planning is prohibited. Therefore the use of
contraceptive is also different from each other that leads to high growth rate among the
Muslim population than that of the Sinhalease.
