Regions

Asia

The Guttmacher Institute’s work in Asia has focused primarily on estimating the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy, documenting the health consequences of unsafe abortion, assessing the reach and quality of postabortion care, and exploring ways in which misoprostol is obtained online.

The Institute's ongoing Adding It Up project provides estimates (regional, subregional and country-specific) of the needs among women in low- and middle-income Asian countries for modern contraception, maternal and newborn care, and abortion-related services. This work also estimates the costs and impacts of meeting these needs, providing policymakers across the region with evidence that investment in improving and increasing the provision of sexual and reproductive health services saves lives, improves women’s health and well-being, and has broad societal benefits.

In addition, the Unintended Pregnancy and Abortion Worldwide study has produced model-based estimates of the incidence of unintended pregnancy and abortion for all Asian countries and territories over the period 1990–2019. Such estimates provide an opportunity to assess trends in unintended pregnancy and abor­tion over time for individual countries and territories, as well as regionally and globally.

Explore data and resources for 40 Asian countries using the “Select a country profile” box on this page.

Select a country profile

Women in India face considerable challenges trying to obtain abortion care. Permitting midlevel providers to provide medication abortion can help address this situation by expanding the number of providers and facilities qualified to offer this care.