Standardizing Measurement of Contraceptive Use Among Unmarried Women

Historically, the family planning practices and needs of married women have been monitored and reported uniformly. However, the same uniformity does not hold for unmarried women. Because key data and information platforms employ different measurement approaches—namely, different definitions of sexual recency—reports of contraceptive prevalence and unmet need among unmarried women are inconsistent. We examine how the measurement approaches employed by 3 large organizations yield such divergent estimates. We find that contraceptive prevalence and unmet need estimates among married women do not vary much by sexual recency. For unmarried women, contraceptive prevalence is systematically lower and unmet need is systematically higher as the sexual recency window widens. In the short term, we recommend using the 1-month cutoff as analyses reveal it yields the most precise estimates for better recognizing the needs of this important demographic group.