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Background: Insufficient utilization of postnatal care among women in Bangladesh occurs in many forms and complex web of actors; such as women’s occupation, income, area of residence, socioeconomic status and other factors share their contribution for the low utilization. By using data from nationally representative sample, this study investigates to analyze the pattern and determinants of postnatal care service utilization and regional differences among women in Bangladesh.

Aim: The aim of this study is to identify the sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors which influence the practice of postnatal care of women in Bangladesh and to analyse the regional differences in the utilization of postnatal care.

Methods: The 2014 Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (2014 BDHS) data were used for this study. Descriptive statistics involved examining pattern of postnatal care services utilization and regional differences followed by simple and multiple logistic regression models which explores the association between all potential sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors and outcome variables.

Results: Only two-third of the women were received postnatal care after delivery. Various determinants like women’s occupation, place of residence, antenatal checkup, place of delivery, household wealth index and partner’s occupation had significant effect on the utilization of postnatal care services. The multivariate analysis revealed that women of richest household had 2.3 times (OR=2.3; 95% CI: 1.6-3.2) greater chances of seeking postnatal care than their poorest counterparts. Moreover, 60% of rural women had lower chances to seek such care than urban women (OR=0.4; 95% CI: 0.3-0.5). Furthermore, women delivered in any kind of health facilities other than home delivery had 14.2 times greater chances to receive postnatal care than those who delivered at home (OR=14.2; 95% CI: 11.2-17.9) and women who got antenatal checkup had 2.1 times more chances to seek such care compared to those who didn’t get any antenatal checkup (OR=2.1; 95% CI: 1.8-2.6).

Conclusion: To increase the utilization of postnatal care services among women, focus should be given more to reduce the socio-economic inequalities as well as an increase motivation to seek health care for pregnancy. Focus on delivery in health facilities might also bring positive changes in the postnatal care seeking behavior.