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Data for 2018

Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method), 2018

2018, 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), 2018 covers 196 countries on 3 measures. Finland is highest, at 78.8; South Sudan is lowest, at 5.5. The middle country reads 40.1. Against 2017, 175 values changed (132 up, 43 down), the same countries are covered.

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Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method) · Data for 2018

HighestFinland

78.8

LowestSouth Sudan

5.5

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), 2018, 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), 2018: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
FinlandFINNorthern Europe78.867.584.7Projection
CanadaCANNorthern America72.753.287.1Projection
SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe72.764.779.1Projection
United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe71.055.982.4Projection
NorwayNORNorthern Europe68.549.288.4Projection
ChinaCHNEastern Asia67.860.580.5Projection
FranceFRAWestern Europe67.053.278.9Projection
BulgariaBGREastern Europe66.547.982.8Projection
BrazilBRASouth America66.358.773.5Interpolation
CubaCUBCaribbean66.159.971.7Interpolation
IrelandIRLNorthern Europe64.847.078.5Projection
AustriaAUTWestern Europe64.753.075.3Interpolation
ChileCHLSouth America63.754.672.2Projection
New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand63.750.280.0Projection
CzechiaCZEEastern Europe63.647.681.1Projection
NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe63.151.073.7Projection
DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe62.737.187.0Projection
EstoniaESTNorthern Europe62.751.972.7Projection
ColombiaCOLSouth America61.855.568.4Projection
SpainESPSouthern Europe61.455.367.0Interpolation
BelgiumBELWestern Europe60.755.365.9Interpolation
United StatesUSANorthern America60.454.966.3Interpolation
North KoreaPRKEastern Asia59.750.274.1Projection
ItalyITASouthern Europe59.044.471.4Projection
PortugalPRTSouthern Europe58.947.168.6Projection

02In 2018

At either end

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

Highest

  1. Finland78.8
  2. Canadashared72.7
  3. Switzerlandshared72.7
  4. United Kingdom71.0
  5. Norway68.5

Lowest

  1. South Sudan5.5
  2. Somalia5.9
  3. Chad6.4
  4. Eritrea7.1
  5. Sudan9.6

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 40.1. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Lower bound (95% uncertainty interval)

    HighestFinland67.5

    Lowest2 share it

    Middle country: 30.6

  • Upper bound (95% uncertainty interval)

    HighestNorway88.4

    LowestChad8.5

    Middle country: 50.8

032017 → 2018

Since 2017

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 175values changed, of 196 in both
  • 132 · 43rose · fell
  • 21unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

04Caveats

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 2018.

  • 165 distinct values among 196

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 1 decimal. 3 countries share 48.9. 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: Projection, Interpolation.

05The 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 (2018). Contraceptive Prevalence (Any Method), 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/contraceptive-prevalence/2018

0634 held

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