State of World Population 2012 - UNFPA Haiti

Europe; the highest is 64 per cent in SouthAmerica (Singh, Sedgh and Hussain, 2010).In the United States, an estimated 49 per centof pregnancies are unintended, a figure thatremained unchanged between 1994 and 2001(Finer and Henshaw, 2006).Unintended pregnancies in the UnitedStates occur most frequently among youngwomen 18 to 24 who are unmarried, poor,black or Hispanic. Forty-eight per cent ofunintended conceptions in 2001 occurredduring a month when contraceptives wereused (Finer and Henshaw, 2006). This isbecause some women are more likely to haveunprotected sex, even when they are at othertimes using contraception. In addition, theymay be using less effective methods. Finally,women who are cohabiting are more likely toexperience unintended pregnancies, in partbecause they may be ambivalent about usingcontraception, which may be the preference oftheir partners, not their own. People of lowersocioeconomic status are more likely to experiencecontraceptive failure, in part because theyare more likely to use less effective methods.Changes in contraceptive use, currentlevels of use and unmet needAs described in Chapters 2 and 3, there isa strong and growing need for sexual andreproductive health services that includefamily planning among unmarried people,since age at first marriage has increased ashas sexual activity among unmarried people.Unmarried, sexually active women are atgreater risk of unintended pregnancy thanmarried women. Cohabiting women are usingcontraception at rates like those of marriedwomen, but tend to have higher levels ofsexual activity, being younger; in addition,they may be more fecund.Contraceptive use by married women indeveloping and developed countries betweenthe ages of 15 and 49 rose from near zero inthe 1960s to approximately 47 per cent in 1990and to 55 per cent in 2000 and has leveled offsince (United Nations Department of Economicand Social Affairs, 2004 and 2011). In EastAfrica, the rate increased from 20 per cent inLarge Variations in married women'slevel of unmet need for and use ofmodern contraception among subregionsof the developing world in 2012Subregions of the developing worldDeveloping worldWestern AfricaMiddle AfricaEastern AfricaNorthern AfricaSouthern AfricaWestern AsiaSouth AsiaCentral AsiaSoutheast AsiaEastern AsiaCaribbeanCentral AmericaSouth AmericaSource: Singh & Darroch 2012Modern contraceptive useUnmet need for modern contraceptives9 307 3727 3257 1845 2158 1634 3546 2452 1956 2056 2264 1870 170 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% of married women 15-4988 3THE STATE OF WORLD POPULATION 201289