In 2024, the global use of contraceptive methods among women reached 50 percent, yet varied greatly from one region of the world to another. Only 21 percent of women aged 15 to 49 years used a contraceptive method in West and Central Africa. Contraceptive use was consistently higher in married women. In 2024, the global use of contraceptive methods among married women, aged 15 to 49 years old, reached 65 percent.

A 2021 survey of American high school students found that of those who were sexually active and engaging in sex with opposite-sex partners, 20.9 percent were using the birth control pill to prevent pregnancy. Prevalence was highest among female students.

In the period 2023/24, 58 percent of women in England aged 16 and 17 years who were in contact with sexual health services were using user dependent contraceptives, compared to 42 percent who were using long acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). It is visible that younger age groups were more likely to use user-dependent contraceptives compared to older age groups. Contact with sexual health services In total, over 1.9 million women in England contacted NHS sexual and reproductive health services for contraceptive reasons in the period 2020/21. The age group with the highest number of women contacting the service was those aged 25-34 years. Types of contraception used Across the whole United Kingdom in 2018, the birth control pill was the most common method of contraception for women aged between 15 and 49 years, with 28 percent using it as their main method. Across Europe, the UK had the seventh highest share of women in the country using the pill as their main method of contraception, with Czechia having the highest share at 54 percent of women in the country using the pill.

As of 2022, Czechia had the highest share in Europe of women aged 15 to 49 years using the birth control pill, with over 54 percent using this form of contraception. Additionally, Netherlands had a high level of contraceptive pill use at 49 percent. In the Balkans there is low usage of the birth control pill with less than two percent of women using the pill in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

According to a survey conducted among heterosexual women in Southeast Asia in 2023, almost 70 percent of the respondents in both Singapore and Indonesia had not used any contraceptive method before. In contrast, the share of respondents who had not used contraception before amounted to 31 percent in Thailand.

In 2022, mood changes and weight gain were the most common side effects from contraception experienced by women in the U.S. in the past year, as reported by almost half of respondents. In addition, nearly eight out of ten women who used contraception said they had experienced two or more side effects. This statistic illustrates the percentage of contraceptive-using women in the U.S. who experienced select side effects from contraception that were unexpected or more severe than expected as of 2022.

In Europe, just under 61 percent of women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years) used a modern contraceptive method in 2023. The prevalence of modern contraceptive use among women in Southern and Eastern European countries was lower than in Northern and Western countries, and thus varied greatly from one country to another. Finland had the highest prevalence in Europe, with 74 percent of women using a modern contraceptive method, whereas the prevalence in Albania was just over five percent.

A survey from December 2020 found that around eight percent of women aged 18 to 25 years either delayed or could not get birth control during the COVID-19 pandemic. This statistic shows the percentage of women who had delayed or not been able to get birth control because of the COVID-19 pandemic as of December 2020, by age group.

In 2024, a survey of reproductive-aged women in the U.S. found that around 25 percent used male condoms and 22 percent used oral contraceptives in the past year.

This statistic shows the OTC (over-the-counter) revenue of female contraceptives in the United States from 2011 to 2023. In 2023, OTC revenue of female contraceptives in the United States reached around 672 million U.S. dollars.

In the United States, around 28 percent of sexually active students in the U.S. in twelfth grade reported using birth control pills as their primary contraceptive method. This statistic depicts the percentage of high school students using birth control pills as contraception during their last sexual intercourse in the U.S. in 2019, by grade.

In 2019, roughly one out of five European women of reproductive age used the contraceptive pill while 16.4 percent of them used the male condom. These two contraceptive methods were the most common in Europe, where 56 percent of women overall use contraception. From one region to another, the use of contraceptive methods differed greatly. The pill was the most commonly used in Northern and Western Europe, whereas in Southern and Eastern Europe it was the male condom. The IUD was the third most common type of contraceptive used by European women during that year. Finally, the withdrawal method, which is not, in reality, a contraceptive method, was still used by some women despite its lack of effectiveness.

In 2022, more than eight in every ten women of reproductive age in the U.S. used some contraceptive method in the past year. White women capable of becoming pregnant reported the highest contraceptive use, with 87 percent. This statistic illustrates the percentage of reproductive-aged women in the U.S. that reported using contraception in the past year as of 2022, by race and ethnicity.

This statistic shows the moral stance of Americans regarding contraception and birth control in 2018. During the survey, 91 percent of respondents stated that they think using birth control is morally acceptable, while 6 percent considered it morally wrong to use contraceptives.

Moral acceptance of contraception

Morality is the attempt at defining what is right or wrong about our actions and thoughts. Contraception is one of the more controversial issues and is a frequent topic of heated discussions. In the United States, contraception is widely morally acceptable nowadays, as 89 percent of Americans share this belief, while only 8 percent believe that contraception is morally wrong. This is not surprising, as another survey indicates that between 97 and 100 percent of sexually experienced American women over 15 years used contraception between 2006 and 2010.

However, a slightly lower percentage of Catholics support the use of contraceptives. In the United States, there have been a number of lawsuits that oppose the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, on the basis of religious grounds and religious freedom, because the Act requires employers to provide health insurance policies that cover and include access to contraception. Further, fifty-five percent of American Catholics believe that religiously-affiliated employers, who desire to be exempt from having to cover contraception in their health plans, should be able to do so.

Despite these lawsuits, it is still clear that the majority of people in the U.S. both morally accept and use contraceptives. However, this is not the case across the world; in Pakistan only 12 percent believe that contraceptive use is morally acceptable while 65 percent believe that it is morally wrong. In Nigeria, Ghana, Malaysia and Tunisia acceptance rates are not much higher.

A survey of college students in the United States from the fall of 2023 found that the most common method of birth control among college students is the male condom, followed by birth control pills, and the withdrawal method. At that time, about half of college students in the U.S. reported they used a male condom to prevent pregnancy the last time they had vaginal intercourse, while 39 percent used birth control pills.

Contraception among women in the United States Similarly to college students, male condoms and oral contraceptives are the most common forms of contraception among all adult women in the United States. As of 2022, around 32 percent of women of reproductive age in the United States had used male condoms in the past year, while 33 percent had used oral contraceptives. These forms of contraception are more common among women aged 18 to 25 years, while the intrauterine device (IUD) is more common among women aged 26 to 35 years than any other age group. The number one reason U.S. women use contraception is to avoid pregnancy.

Contraceptive use among high school students In 2019, around 49 percent of male and 39 percent of female high school students stated condoms were their primary contraceptive method. This was the most popular form of contraception among high school students, followed by birth control pills. Around 28 percent of high school students in grade 12 stated they used birth control pills as their primary method of birth control the last time they had sexual intercourse, compared to 26 percent of those in 11th grade, and 18 percent of 10th graders.

From 2017 to 2019, women of varying education levels did not differ significantly in their use of the male condom. However, use of birth control pills increased with increasing levels of education. Inversely, female sterilization decreased with increasing levels of education. This statistic shows the percentage of women in the United States currently using select contraceptive methods from 2017 to 2019, by level of education.

In 2022, around one third of contraceptive-using women in the U.S. said they had at some point missed taking birth control on time due to supply problems. The largest share corresponded to Black women, with nearly four in every ten missing taking their birth control on time because they were unable to get their next supply. This statistic illustrates the percentage of contraceptive-using women in the U.S. who missed taking their birth control on time due to a lack of supply as of 2022, by race and ethnicity.

According to the data, the contraceptive prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa was only 27.9 percent. This means that only 27.9 percent of women or their sexual partner were currently using at least one method of contraception. This statistic depicts contraceptive prevalence worldwide as of 2019, by region.

According to a survey conducted in August 2023 on sexuality and love in Japan, the most commonly used contraceptive was the condom, with a share of over 64 percent. The pill followed, with around 14 percent.

This statistic shows the percentage of women aged 15 to 44 years who used birth control pills or long-acting reversible contraception in the U.S. from 2011 to 2013, by marital status. During this time, 43.5 percent of surveyed women who were never married used birth control pills, while only 7.6 percent used long-acting reversible contraception.