How It Was, and of Course, How It Should Be: Moving toward a Better Measurement of Contraceptive Prevalence among Unmarried Women

Apoorva Jadhav, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Madeleine Short Fabic, US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Kerry MacQuarrie, The DHS Program (Avenir Health)

Family planning practices of married women have been reported uniformly, unlike those of unmarried women, many of whom are youth. Because key data platforms employ different measurement approaches—definitions of sexual recency—reports of contraceptive prevalence among unmarried women are inconsistent. We use data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 7 countries to ask whether composite contraceptive use measure (i.e., current contraceptive use + contraceptive use at last sex) provides more accurate assessment of contraceptive use among women. We recommend the family planning field revisit measurement of contraceptive prevalence among unmarried women to consider a composite measure coupled with a 12-month sexual recency cut-off window. Having consistent or uniform denominators for measurement is key not only to progress toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals and tracking progress toward FP2030 goals, but also to accurately understand family planning practices in light of global efforts to improve FP measures centered on reproductive agency