A few facts about contraception worldwide

By Sebastien Malo

NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Wednesday marks 100 years since contraception pioneer Margaret Sanger was arrested for running the first birth-control clinic in the United States.

Convicted of public nuisance, Sanger was forced to close down the clinic in Brooklyn, New York.

But organizations she established evolved into Planned Parenthood, today a leading reproductive health services provider, and Sanger became an icon of a worldwide movement to spread the availability of birth control.

Here are a few facts about contraception worldwide:

* Surgical sterilization is the most common method of contraception for women globally, used by about one in five women of reproductive age, according to United Nations data on women who are married or live with a partner.

* Nearly 60 percent of women around the world use some form of modern contraception, including sterilization and birth control pills, according to the same U.N. data. So-called modern methods do not include withdrawal.

* Eastern Asia has the highest rate, at 82 percent, of women using contraception, followed by Northern Europe at 77 percent and North and South America at 75 percent, according to the U.N.

* An estimated 225 million women in developing countries would like to delay or stop childbearing but are not using any method of contraception, according to the World Health Organization, due to limited access, fear, cultural opposition and other factors.

* In Africa, roughly 20 percent of women of reproductive age have an unmet need for modern contraception, according to the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

* The most effective temporary contraceptive is a small rod inserted under the skin that releases a hormone to block ovulation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its effectiveness rate stands at 99.95 percent, compared with an 82 percent effectiveness rate for traditional condoms.

* Women in the world's least developed countries use contraceptives at the lowest rates, about two in five women, according to the U.N.

* Female sterilization is common in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Northern America, while intrauterine devices are common in Asia and Europe. Birth-control pills are used most widely, according to the U.N.

* Rates of male sterilization lag those of female sterilization, even though it is simpler and safer, according to the U.N.

* Some 15 billion condoms are made each year globally, with some 750 million users, according to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This year, the United Nations called for an increase of the world's output to 20 billion condoms by 2020.

(Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)

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