Little progress in meeting demand for contraception in the poorest countries
Women in poorest countries who want to avoid pregnancy are three times as likely to have an unmet need for modern methods as women in higher-income developing countries according to a new study, says a press release.
A new study by the Guttmacher Institute finds that within the developing world, the poorest countries are lagging far behind higher-income developing countries in meeting the demand for modern contraception.
Between 2003 and 2012, the total number of women wanting to avoid pregnancy and in need of contraception increased from 716 million to 867 million, with growth concentrated among women in the 69 poorest countries where modern method use was already very low.
The study, "Trends in Contraceptive Need and Use in Developing Countries in 2003, 2008, 2012: An Analysis of National Surveys" by Jacqueline E. Darroch and Susheela Singh, is published in the recent issue of The Lancet.
Though the use of modern methods has risen in all regions over the last decade, far too many women still have an unmet need for such methods.
Because of population growth and the growing desire for smaller families, the number of women with unmet need and the proportion of such women in the poorest developing countries are projected to increase even further.
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