DATA AND METHODSUsually, data on family planning and family formation are derived from women's responses to survey questionnaires. Since 1990, the DHS has been collecting nationally representative data from men on a range of reproductive health issues, including contraceptive use and fertility behavior. However, these data have received little attention compared with data collected from women, possibly because men are thought to give less reliable information, especially regarding their attitudes and behaviors related to family planning.The 2001 DHS was the first Nepal survey to collect data from a nationally representative sample of men. The male data set includes 2,261 ever-married males aged 15-59, and the female data set includes 8,726 ever-married females aged 15-49. The matched couple data set (N=1,858) comprises currently married individuals from both of these samples, and so some data that are missing for husbands can be ascertained from their wives' responses. In the couple data set, the average age at first marriage was 19.9 years (standard deviation, 3.9 years) for men and 16.5 years (standard deviation, 2.8 years) for women.Of these married men, we excluded 188 who did not have any living children at the time of the survey, 18 who were younger than 20 (of whom only two wanted no more children), 431 who wanted to have more children, 89 whose wives were pregnant, 71 whose wives had experienced menopause or hysterectomy and 20 whose wives were infecund or subfecund. (We excluded men whose wives were pregnant or unable to bear more children because it was difficult to determine whether these men's responses regarding their own fertility intentions accounted for the current status of their wives.) Thus, our sample included 1,041 men aged 20 or older who had at least one living child and said that they wanted no more children.* The dependent variable in our analysis was contraceptive use as reported by Nepalese men, coded into five categories: female sterilization, male sterilization, condoms, other temporary method and nonuse. The other temporary method category consisted of the injectable, periodic abstinence and withdrawal, which constituted about three-quarters of this category, and the pill and the IUD, which made up the remainder. Men's responses regarding contraceptive use were considered reliable because they usually decide which method to use. However, it is possible that wives use methods such as the injectable without the knowledge of their husbands because of fear of opposition from them or other family members. In the couple data set, 98% of permanent method use was reported consistently by both husbands and wives, whereas there were substantial inconsistencies in reporting the use of tempo-