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Data for 1990

Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method), 1990

1990, as UN DESA Population Division’s 2024 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

The share of all women aged 15 to 49, married or not, who are using any method of contraception, modern or traditional. It is the broadest measure of contraceptive use, and the gap between it and modern-method use shows how far a country relies on traditional methods such as withdrawal or periodic abstinence.

Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method), 1990 covers 196 countries on 3 measures. Finland is highest, at 72.6; 2 countries share the lowest reading, 3.0. The middle country reads 29.5.

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Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method) · Data for 1990

HighestFinland

72.6

Lowest2 countries share it

3.0

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end.

01Values only

The table

Every country and every column of Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method), 1990, as published. The file carries values only, so no position is shown. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 196 countries · select a heading to sort

Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method), 1990: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
FinlandFINNorthern Europe72.662.378.1Interpolation
SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe69.956.879.3Interpolation
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe69.359.876.9Interpolation
CanadaCANNorthern America68.260.974.3Interpolation
BulgariaBGREastern Europe67.158.475.2Interpolation
FranceFRAWestern Europe66.058.673.4Interpolation
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe65.759.171.0Interpolation
GermanyDEUWestern Europe64.956.472.7Interpolation
DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe63.451.478.0Interpolation
NorwayNORNorthern Europe63.049.777.7Interpolation
IrelandIRLNorthern Europe62.046.474.1Projection
United StatesUSANorthern America61.956.067.6Interpolation
BelgiumBELWestern Europe60.950.271.1Interpolation
SwedenSWENorthern Europe59.846.476.1Interpolation
LatviaLVANorthern Europe59.144.475.3Projection
CzechiaCZEEastern Europe58.450.167.8Interpolation
AustriaAUTWestern Europe58.242.671.3Projection
AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand57.746.368.9Interpolation
New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand57.647.369.2Interpolation
ChinaCHNEastern Asia56.951.571.0Interpolation
UkraineUKREastern Europe55.946.664.9Projection
PortugalPRTSouthern Europe55.345.867.1Interpolation
EstoniaESTNorthern Europe55.143.866.1Projection
HungaryHUNEastern Europe54.247.464.8Interpolation
CubaCUBCaribbean54.044.367.6Interpolation

02In 1990

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

  1. Finland72.6
  2. Switzerland69.9
  3. United Kingdom69.3
  4. Canada68.2
  5. Bulgaria67.1

Lowest

  1. South Sudanshared3.0
  2. Mauritaniashared3.0
  3. Ethiopia3.1
  4. Chadshared3.4
  5. Guineashared3.4

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 29.5. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Lower bound (95% uncertainty interval)

    HighestFinland62.3

    LowestSouth Sudan1.3

    Middle country: 22.4

  • Upper bound (95% uncertainty interval)

    HighestSwitzerland79.3

    LowestEthiopia4.8

    Middle country: 40.0

03Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2024 release

    Every year in this series comes from UN DESA Population Division’s 2024 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1990.

  • 170 distinct values among 196

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 3 countries share 49.0. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 196 countries has every column.

  • Some readings carry a flag

    UN DESA Population Division marks readings it considers estimates or provisional. The flags in this file: Interpolation, Projection.

04The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UN DESA Population Division (1990). Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method), 1990 [data set], describing 1990. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/contraceptive-prevalence/1990

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