WASHINGTON — The share of American women on birth control who use long-acting reversible methods like intrauterine devices and implants has nearly doubled in recent years, the federal government reported Tuesday.

The share of women on birth control who use the devices rose to 11.6 percent in the period from 2011 to 2013, up from 6 percent in 2006 to 2010, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The share is still smaller than for the pill (26 percent) or condoms (15 percent), but it is the fastest-growing method. In 2002, just 2.4 percent of women on birth control in the United States used the long-acting methods.

Women’s health advocates say long-acting birth control is giving American women more say over when — and with whom — they have children. About half of the 6.6 million pregnancies a year in the United States are unintended, and health experts contend that broader use of long-acting methods could help reduce that number, because the methods work better than other types.

The methods are effective because, unlike the pill, a diaphragm or condoms, they do not require a woman to take action to work. Although an early incarnation, the Dalkon Shield, introduced in the 1970s, had disastrous results, the modern devices are safe and have been increasingly promoted by doctors. Last fall, the American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines that for the first time singled them out as a “first-line” birth control option for adolescents, citing their “efficacy, safety and ease of use.”