WALL CHART ON WORLD CONTRACEPTIVE USE 1998 ISSUED BY POPULATION DIVISION
Press Release
POP/710
WALL CHART ON WORLD CONTRACEPTIVE USE 1998 ISSUED BY POPULATION DIVISION
19990319 NEW YORK, 19 March (DESA) -- As part of its ongoing monitoring of world contraceptive use, the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has issued a wall chart entitled World Contraceptive Use 1998. The wall chart presents the most up-to-date information available on the current contraceptive practices of married women of reproductive age in 142 countries and areas, covering 92 per cent of the world's population. Featuring a table that compiles individual country data on contraceptive use, as well as global and regional averages, the wall chart highlights the percentage of women using contraception, the types of methods used and trends in use. In addition, through a series of pie charts, the wall chart depicts in a vivid manner the percentage of women using the various contraceptive methods, for both more developed and less developed regions and the world as a whole. The wall chart is a companion piece to a forthcoming DESA publication entitled, Levels and Trends of Contraceptive Use as Assessed in 1998, which provides a detailed analysis of current global contraceptive use, trends over time and projections of future use.The wall chart displays data primarily from nationally representative sample surveys of women of reproductive age for dates 1970 and later, pertaining on average to the year 1993. The chart indicates that worldwide contraceptive prevalence (the percentage of couples currently using contraception) is estimated to have reached 58 per cent, with average levels of use higher in the more developed regions than in the less developed regions, at 70 and 55 per cent respectively. In the more developed countries of Europe, Northern America and Australia and New Zealand, nearly three quarters of married couples currently use a method of contraception. In contrast, the average contraceptive prevalence in Africa and the developing countries of Oceania is 20 and 29 per cent, respectively.
These averages belie considerable disparities in use, particularly among the less developed regions, where the range in contraceptive prevalence is from just 8 per cent in Western Africa to more than 80 per cent in Eastern Asia. To date, the highest levels of contraceptive use among all countries of the world are reported by Hong Kong and China (86 and 83 per cent respectively). In fact, the very high level of use in China, home to more than one quarter of the world's population, inflates the average for Asia and for the developed regions as a whole. Excluding China, average prevalence in the less developed regions hovers around 42 per cent.
- 2 - Press Release POP/710 19 March 1999
The chart distinguishes between "clinic and supply methods" (methods that require supplies or clinical services, including contraceptive sterilization, IUDs, hormonal methods, condoms and vaginal barrier methods) and "non-supply methods" ("traditional" methods, including withdrawal, the calendar rhythm method), of which clinic and supply methods account for most of current global contraceptive practice (87 per cent). Interestingly, the chart reveals that clinic and supply methods make up a larger share of total contraceptive use in the less developed regions (91 per cent of all users) than in the more developed regions (74 per cent of all users). Among other factors, this reflects the common use of certain traditional methods, including withdrawal and various forms of the calendar rhythm method, primarily in Eastern and Southern Europe.
For the world as a whole, the chart demonstrates that among modern contraceptives, the most widely used methods are those used by women: female sterilization is used by 19 per cent of married women worldwide; IUDs by 13 per cent; and oral pills by 8 per cent. The main male methods, condoms and vasectomy, are each used by 4 per cent of married men. The chart shows that the most commonly used methods in the developed regions are the oral pill (17 per cent), the condom (14 per cent) and female sterilization (9 per cent). By contrast, in the developing regions, the most common methods are female sterilization (21 per cent), the IUD (14 per cent) and oral pills (6 per cent).
The chart also indicates that nearly all developing countries have experienced an increase in contraceptive prevalence over the recent past. Prevalence increased by at least 10 percentage points over the past decade in more than two thirds of the countries with available trend information, and use rates are expected to continue to increase. Some developed countries also show a rise in contraceptive prevalence in recent years, although most changes are relatively small. In the more developed regions, the main trend has been towards greater use of modern methods.
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