Family planning/contraception methods

WHO
Sep 05, 2023

Family planning/contraception methods


Key facts

  • Among the 1.9 billion women of reproductive age group (15–49 years) worldwide in 2021, 1.1 billion have a need for family planning; of these, 874 million are using modern contraceptive methods, and 164 million have an unmet need for contraception (1).
  • The proportion of the need for family planning satisfied by modern methods, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator 3.7.1, has stagnated globally at around 77% from 2015 to 2022 but increased from 52% to 58% in sub-Saharan Africa (2).
  • Only one contraceptive method, condoms, can prevent both a pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
  • Use of contraception advances the human right of people to determine the number and spacing of their children.
  • In 2022, global contraceptive prevalence of any method was estimated at 65% and of modern methods at 58.7% for married or in a union women (3).