Contraception Statistics

Let's look at contraception from the viewpoint of a statistical information sheet. In the United States alone there are slightly over sixty million women in what is considered childbearing age. This covers the ages fifteen to forty four. Of these women seventy percent are sexually active. Of the ones who are in a long term monogamous relationship most only want to have two children in their lifetime. That means that for approximately thirty years of her life she must use some type of contraception. A women lives to an average of eighty years old so that means for nearly thirty eight percent of her life she must use some method of contraception.

Of these millions of American women sixty two percent are using some type of contraceptive method when engaging in a sexual act. Of the remaining thirty one percent who are not using birth control it is because they are unable to conceive at that time. This can be due to a being pregnant, or because they are trying to get pregnant, they are infertile or are not involved in sexual relationship. Therefore if you cut through these statistics you will see that it is only seven percent of American women who are not protecting themselves from a potentially unwanted pregnancy.

Contraception is an area of many choices. Most women, sixty four percent, choose a reversible option like the Pill, IUD, injection or implants. The remaining chooses sterilization. These choices change as a woman ages. Less than thirty and she is thinking of one day having a family. As she ages a women has her family and then wants to not have to worry about contraception. Caucasian women tend to stay on the Pill longer before choosing a permanent solution. Black and Hispanic women turn to sterilization sooner. Half of all American women over the age of forty are sterilized while just less than twenty percent of the rest of them have relied on their partners to have a vasectomy.

Condoms are more commonly used by younger couples as the only means of contraception. This group includes teenagers and couples younger than twenty four. Many young people, again teenagers and those in their early twenties, often use more than one method; usually the condom plus something else. Of the three million teenager girls who are sexually active slightly over fifty percent use the Pill. Although many adults assume that teenagers never use contraception the first time they have sex this is not true. Seventy nine percent of couples who have sex for the first time use some type of protection; sixty seven percent use condoms. Of the teenage women who have sex for the first times before sixteen fifty five percent of the girls used some method of contraception. For women whose first time was at nineteen or more seventy percent of them used protection. What all these statistics tells us is that the use of contraceptives are higher than many suspected. It shows us that more teenagers are smart enough to use something their first time and continue taking precautions to avoid pregnancy.

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