Increasing women’s access to modern contraceptive methods alone will not satisfy their unmet need for contraception. The most common reasons married women give for not using a contraceptive method—despite wanting to avoid a pregnancy—have less to do with whether they can obtain contraceptives and much more to do with concerns about possible health risks and side effects or their belief that they don’t have sex frequently enough to warrant using a method.

This study analyzes data from Demographic and Health Surveys of 51 developing countries.